| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: the rod of its lightning, it is better for the artist not to live
with Popes. It was a Pope who said of Cellini to a conclave of
Cardinals that common laws and common authority were not made for
men such as he; but it was a Pope who thrust Cellini into prison,
and kept him there till he sickened with rage, and created unreal
visions for himself, and saw the gilded sun enter his room, and
grew so enamoured of it that he sought to escape, and crept out
from tower to tower, and falling through dizzy air at dawn, maimed
himself, and was by a vine-dresser covered with vine leaves, and
carried in a cart to one who, loving beautiful things, had care of
him. There is danger in Popes. And as for the People, what of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: his d--d heart out of him."
_"Shoot! shoot me!"_ said Henry. "_You can't kill me but once_.
Shoot!--shoot! and be d--d. _I won't be tied_." This, the brave
fellow said in a voice as defiant and heroic in its tone, as was
the language itself; and, at the moment of saying this, with the
pistols at his very breast, he quickly raised his arms, and
dashed them from the puny hands of his assassins, the weapons
flying in opposite directions. Now came the struggle. All hands
was now rushed upon the brave fellow, and, after beating him for
some time, they succeeded in overpowering and tying him. Henry
put me to shame; he fought, and fought bravely. John and I had
My Bondage and My Freedom |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: and as she had taken what I felt to be an important
view of her condition, I did not, at first, press
the marriage, but agreed to assist her in trying to
devise some plan by which we might escape from
our unhappy condition, and then be married.
We thought of plan after plan, but they all
seemed crowded with insurmountable difficulties.
We knew it was unlawful for any public convey-
ance to take us as passengers, without our master's
consent. We were also perfectly aware of the
startling fact, that had we left without this consent
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
