| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: the Polynesian loves gaiety - I feed him with decimals, the
mariner's compass, derivations, grammar, and the like;
delecting myself, after the manner of my race, MOULT
TRISTEMENT. I suck my paws; I live for my dexterities and by
my accomplishments; even my clumsinesses are my joy - my
woodcuts, my stumbling on the pipe, this surveying even - and
even weeding sensitive; anything to do with the mind, with
the eye, with the hand - with a part of ME; diversion flows
in these ways for the dreary man. But gaiety is what these
children want; to sit in a crowd, tell stories and pass
jests, to hear one another laugh and scamper with the girls.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: Quickly drawing his keen sword from its sheath, in order to
please her who awaits his love, he rode hard at a Saxon and,
striking him with his whetted blade, he severed his head and half
his neck from the body: such was the limit of his pity. Fenice,
who witnesses what transpires, does not know yet that this is
Cliges. She wishes that it were he, indeed, but because of the
present danger she says to herself that she would not have him
there. Thus, doubly she shows the devotion of a sweetheart,
fearing at once his death, and desiring that honour may be his.
And Cliges sword in hand attacks the other three, who face him
bravely and puncture and split his shield. But they are unable
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: little love is lost upon them the Jews showed by their attitude toward
Moses. They would have been glad to stone Moses to death. (Ex. 17:4.) You
cannot expect anything else. How can a pupil love a teacher who frustrates
his desires? And if the pupil disobeys, the schoolmaster whips him, and
the pupil has to like it and even kiss the rod with which he was beaten. Do
you think the schoolboy feels good about it? As soon as the teacher turns
his back, the pupil breaks the rod and throws it into the fire. And if he were
stronger than the teacher he would not take the beatings, but beat up the
teacher. All the same, teachers are indispensable, otherwise the children
would grow up without discipline, instruction, and training.
But how long are the scolding and the whippings of the schoolmaster to
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