| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: Multiply the sufferings of that one drunkard by the hundred thousand,
and you have some idea of what scenes are being witnessed in all our
great cities at this moment. As in Africa streams intersect the forest
in every direction, so the gin-shop stands at every corner with its
River of the Water of Death flowing seventeen hours out of the
twenty-four for the destruction of the people. A population sodden
with drink, steeped in vice, eaten up by every social and physical
malady, these are the denizens of Darkest England amidst whom my life
has been spent, and to whose rescue I would now summon all that is best
in the manhood and womanhood of our land.
But this book is no mere lamentation of despair. For Darkest England,
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: over to wipe his hands in the wet grass.
"Why is it? If I feel that way, I feel that
way. I like trees because they seem more
resigned to the way they have to live than
other things do. I feel as if this tree knows
everything I ever think of when I sit here.
When I come back to it, I never have to re-
mind it of anything; I begin just where I left
off."
O Pioneers! |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: when we see or hear of suffering in another, the idea of suffering
is called up so vividly in our own minds that we ourselves suffer.
But this explanation is hardly sufficient, for it does not account
for the intimate alliance between sympathy and affection.
We undoubtedly sympathize far more deeply with a beloved than
with an indifferent person; and the sympathy of the one gives us
far more relief than that of the other. Yet assuredly we can
sympathize with those for whom we feel no affection.
Why suffering, when actually experienced by ourselves,
excites weeping, has been discussed in a former chapter.
With respect to joy, its natural and universal expression is laughter;
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
