| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: engineers of the great European nations. Thus democracy not only
leads men to a vast number of inconsiderable productions; it also
leads them to raise some monuments on the largest scale: but
between these two extremes there is a blank. A few scattered
remains of enormous buildings can therefore teach us nothing of
the social condition and the institutions of the people by whom
they were raised. I may add, though the remark leads me to step
out of my subject, that they do not make us better acquainted
with its greatness, its civilization, and its real prosperity.
Whensoever a power of any kind shall be able to make a whole
people co-operate in a single undertaking, that power, with a
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Adieu by Honore de Balzac: she gave a sigh, and that sigh, which had all the semblance of
sensibilities, made the unhappy colonel tremble with hope.
"Alas!" said Monsieur Fanjat, "do not deceive yourself, monsieur;
there is no meaning in her sigh."
Those who have ever watched for hours with delight the sleep of one
who is tenderly beloved, whose eyes will smile to them at waking, can
understand the sweet yet terrible emotion that shook the colonel's
soul. To him, this sleep was an illusion; the waking might be death,
death in its most awful form. Suddenly, a little goat jumped in three
bounds to the bench, and smelt at Stephanie, who waked at the sound.
She sprang to her feet, but so lightly that the movement did not
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: Thus the Fish and the Turtle came to a large camp ground.
"Ho!" exclaimed the people of this round village of teepees,
"Who are these little ones? What do they seek?"
Neither of the warriors carried weapons with them, and their
unimposing stature misled the curious people.
The Fish was spokesman. With a peculiar omission of
syllables, he said: "Shu . . . hi pi!"
"Wan! what? what?" clamored eager voices of men and women.
Again the Fish said: "Shu . . . hi pi!" Everywhere stood
young and old with a palm to an ear. Still no one guessed what
the Fish had mumbled!
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