Shawn Gaston - 5 People you meet in heaven

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

I first read the book The Five People You Meet in Heaven written by Mitch Albom and then because I like it so much watch the television movie. This story is interesting because it starts at the end of the story instead of the beginning. The main character Eddie works as a maintenance man at the carnival on ruby peer. The story begins with a carousel accident where Eddie tries to save a young girl and it ends up costing him his life. I love the sequence in this book because it takes you through his life on earth by introducing you to the five people that Eddie meets when he gets to heaven. All five of these people either had a huge impact on Eddie’s life or he had a huge impact on theirs. The catch is that in some cases Eddie didn’t even know them or remember who they were which really makes you think about your own life and who you maybe effecting.
The first person was named blue man who worked for the carnival. One day when Eddie was a child he was playing ball in the street with a friend and it bounced into the road and ended up causing the blue man to swerve and have a heart attack from anxiety and die. Eddie never knew he caused this incident and was even unwillingly dragged to his funeral with his dad who knew him. The lesson of this man was that there are no random acts in life, and that all incidents are intertwined in someway.
The second person was his former army captain when he was fighting in WWII. They were at a prison camp and finally found a way to escape, as they were running out of camp Eddie thought he saw a small child in a burning building. The captain knew if Eddie went after that child that he would surely die as well, so the captain shot him in the leg and dragged him out alive. The captain then lost his life clearing the way to get the rest of his men out alive as well. The lesson he learns here is sacrifice. The captain sacrificed Eddie’s leg to save his life and he sacrificed his own life to save his men.
The third person he meets in heaven is Ruby the women that the pier was named after and built for. He never met her but Eddie worked for the pier his whole life and if it wasn’t for Ruby his life would have been completely different. Eddie also had a lot of built up hatred and resentment for his father who was too hard on him and had too high of expectations. Ruby told Eddie a story of when his father’s best friend tried to rape his wife (Eddie’s Mother) and instead of letting his friend drowned and die he pulled him out of the ocean that he fell into and saved his life and forgave him. Ruby taught Eddie about forgiveness and gave him the opportunity to make peace with his father in heaven.
The fourth character in the story is his charming wife Marguerite, who he loved with every bit of his heart. She teaches him about the power of love and that even though she has been dead for many years of his life she still can feel his love. She tells him that love doesn’t die even when people do. She told him that she loved him even after her death and that true love endures forever.
The last person that Eddie meets in heaven is Tala, the little girl he wanted to save in the burning building when they were escaping prison camp. Her skin became burned and he was able to wash away all the scares to free him from the guilt of her death. She then explains that his life was meant to be lived out at ruby pier, even though he had never thought so, keeping all the children safe. Then Eddie asks her if he saved the girl from the falling carousel before he die and she said yes he in fact did right before Tala pulled him into heaven. He then knew that that little girl was alive and will live a full life because quick thinking on his behalf.
This story was so well done because it takes you through the lessons that Eddie learned about his life and then causes you to think about your own. If forces you to look at the simplest situation like going to a funeral of someone you do not know and then realize there is a possibility that you were the cause of his or her death. Or that things someone did before you were born like create a carnival on a pier would change your life entirely. It’s like the butterfly effect where every action you make in your life will effect your future and the future of those around you.
I love movies that make you think and that leave you with something to consider and reflect over afterwards. Although I will not know the people that I will meet in heaven until I’m there I think about my decisions in life in a different way now and how important they really can be.