| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "By making our country invisible to all eyes but our own," replied the
Sorceress, smiling. "I have a magic charm powerful enough to
accomplish that wonderful feat, and now that we have been warned of
our danger by the Nome King's invasion, I believe we must not hesitate
to separate ourselves forever from all the rest of the world."
"I agree with you," said the Ruler of Oz.
"Won't it make any difference to us?" asked Dorothy, doubtfully.
"No, my dear," Glinda answered, assuringly. "We shall still be able
to see each other and everything in the Land of Oz. It won't affect
us at all; but those who fly through the air over our country will
look down and see nothing at all. Those who come to the edge of the
 The Emerald City of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: kept me, in Flora's interest, so beguiled and befooled.
The stamp of publicity had of course been fully given by her
confinement and departure, and the change itself was now ushered
in by our nonobservance of the regular custom of the schoolroom.
He had already disappeared when, on my way down, I pushed
open his door, and I learned below that he had breakfasted--
in the presence of a couple of the maids--with Mrs. Grose
and his sister. He had then gone out, as he said, for a stroll;
than which nothing, I reflected, could better have expressed
his frank view of the abrupt transformation of my office.
What he would not permit this office to consist of was yet
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: that in case he is forced to refrain, he will strive at any rate
to compress into his less frequent orations an inquiry into all
the great questions of state, combined with a statement of all
the petty grievances they have themselves to complain to; so
that, though he be not able to come forward frequently, he should
on each occasion prove what he is capable of doing; and that,
instead of perpetually lavishing his powers, he should
occasionally condense them in a small compass, so as to furnish a
sort of complete and brilliant epitome of his constituents and of
himself. On these terms they will vote for him at the next
election. These conditions drive worthy men of humble abilities
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