| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: wine and a loaf of bread, and go singing and cavorting up and down
under the trees with him? I take a little claret with my meals, but
I'm not in the habit of packing a jug of it into the brush and raising
Cain in any such style as that. And of course he'd bring his book of
verses along, too. He said so. Let him go on his scandalous picnics
alone! Or let him take his Ruby Ott with him. I reckon she wouldn't
kick unless it was on account of there being too much bread along. And
what do you think of your gentleman friend now, Mr. Pratt?"
"Well, 'm," says I, "it may be that Idaho's invitation was a kind of
poetry, and meant no harm. May be it belonged to the class of rhymes
they call figurative. They offend law and order, but they get sent
Heart of the West |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: love, and it has changed him. I no longer fear his threat, but I
do fear his anger, should he ever know I spoke of his love, of
his fool's paradise. I have watched his dark face turned to the
sun setting over the desert. I have watched him lift it to the
light of the stars. Think, my gracious and noble lady, think what
is his paradise? To love you above the spirit of the flesh; to
know you are his wife, his, never to be another's except by his
sacrifice; to watch you with a secret glory of joy and pride; to
stand, while he might, between you and evil; to find his
happiness in service; to wait, with never a dream of telling you,
for the hour to come when to leave you free he must go out and
The Light of Western Stars |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: that ever happened to me. What a fun time. I'm so glad I was there."
* The events we experience are less important than the meaning we
give to them, for life is about meaning, not experience.
In Defeat There Is Victory
Once upon a time, among the infinite events which pass daily in this
world, a man took his son and daughter to the racetrack to watch the
horses run. After several races, the man announced that he would
place a bet. "We want to play, too!" his children cried excitedly.
"Very well," answered the man. "Here are the names of the horses in
the coming race: 1. Dotty's Trotter; 2. Sure Win; 3. Also Ran; 4.
High Risk; 5. Looking Good; 6. Outside Chance; 7. King Alphonso."
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