| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: In November we were married. Aunt Eliza was not at the wedding,
which was a quiet one. Mr. Uxbridge desired me to remain in
Waterbury till spring. He would not decide about taking a house in
New York till then; by that time his brother might return, and if
possible we would go to Europe for a few months. I acquiesced in
all his plans. Indeed I was not consulted; but I was happy--happy
in him, and happy in every thing.
The winter passed in waiting for him to come to Waterbury every
Saturday; and in the enjoyment of the two days he passed with me.
In March Aunt Eliza wrote me that Lemorne was beaten! Van Horn had
taken up the whole contents of his snuff-box in her house the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: that!" and shot into their midst.
I must have hit one of them, for he sang out and gave back a
step, and the rest stopped as if a little disconcerted. Before
they had time to recover, I sent another ball over their heads;
and at my third shot (which went as wide as the second) the whole
party threw down the yard and ran for it.
Then I looked round again into the deck-house. The whole place
was full of the smoke of my own firing, just as my ears seemed to
be burst with the noise of the shots. But there was Alan,
standing as before; only now his sword was running blood to the
hilt, and himself so swelled with triumph and fallen into so fine
Kidnapped |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with
right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally
accompanies it. The character of the voters is not staked.
I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not
vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am
willing to leave it to the majority. Its obligation,
therefore, never exceeds that of expediency. Even voting
for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only
expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail.
A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance,
nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |
