| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: Nor is the lack any reflection on the intelligence. I
once traveled in the Black Hills with a young fellow
who himself frankly confessed that after much
experiment he had come to the conclusion he could
not "find himself." He asked me to keep near him,
and this I did as well as I could; but even then,
three times during the course of ten days he lost
himself completely in the tumultuous upheavals and
canons of that badly mixed region. Another, an old
grouse-hunter, walked twice in a circle within the
confines of a thick swamp about two miles square.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: At last her occasion came along, and she made her move with her eyes
wide open. I am very sure she had no innocence to lose, but she had
all her respectability. Dubious little damsel as you thought her,
she had kept a firm hold of that; nothing could be proved against her,
and she was determined not to let her reputation go till she had
got her equivalent. About her equivalent she had high ideas.
Apparently her ideal has been satisfied. It is fifty years old,
bald-headed, and deaf, but it is very easy about money."
"And where in the world," asked Newman, "did you pick up
this valuable information?"
"In conversation. Remember my frivolous habits.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: attentively to all the plans proposed. All seem wise, and I do not
suffer myself to doubt that any one of them would be efficacious.
Nevertheless, I cannot help thinking that if we would put an
improved breed of polliwogs in our drinking water, construct
shallower roadways, groom the street cows, offer the stranger
within our gates a free choice between the poniard and the potion,
and relinquish our private system of morals, the other measures of
public safety would be needless."
The Aged Man was about to speak further, but the meeting informally
adjourned in order to sweep the floor of the temple - for the men
of Gakwak are the tidiest housewives in all that province. The
Fantastic Fables |
