| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln: upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether
that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . .
can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . .
we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead,
who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Othello by William Shakespeare: To keepe vs in false gaze, when we consider
Th' importancie of Cyprus to the Turke;
And let our selues againe but vnderstand,
That as it more concernes the Turke then Rhodes,
So may he with more facile question beare it,
For that it stands not in such Warrelike brace,
But altogether lackes th' abilities
That Rhodes is dress'd in. If we make thought of this,
We must not thinke the Turke is so vnskillfull,
To leaue that latest, which concernes him first,
Neglecting an attempt of ease, and gaine
Othello |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: asleep or awake."
"Lord bless us!" said the lady, "he's a prophet, sure enough."
"As surely," continued the Recluse," as thou art a woman.--A
woman!--I should have said a lady--a fine lady. You asked me to
tell your fortune--it is a simple one; an endless chase through
life after follies not worth catching, and, when caught,
successively thrown away--a chase, pursued from the days of
tottering infancy to those of old age upon his crutches. Toys
and merry-makings in childhood--love and its absurdities in
youth--spadille and basto in age, shall succeed each other as
objects of pursuit--flowers and butterflies in spring--
|
