| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: any way disabled by distempers or diseases, and that then not being
able to go, I ought to acquiesce in the direction of Him, who, having
been my Maker, had an undisputed right of sovereignty in disposing
of me, and that then there had been no difficulty to determine which
was the call of His providence and which was not; but that I should
take it as an intimation from Heaven that I should not go out of town,
only because I could not hire a horse to go, or my fellow was run
away that was to attend me, was ridiculous, since at the time I had my
health and limbs, and other servants, and might with ease travel a day
or two on foot, and having a good certificate of being in perfect health,
might either hire a horse or take post on the road, as I thought fit.
A Journal of the Plague Year |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: He knew what it was to be in the penitentiary, how it went with
men there. He knew how in these long years he should slowly
die, but not until soul and body had become corrupt and
rotten,--how, when he came out, if he lived to come, even the
lowest of the mill-hands would jeer him,--how his hands would be
weak, and his brain senseless and stupid. He believed he was
almost that now. He put his hand to his head, with a puzzled,
weary look. It ached, his head, with thinking. He tried to
quiet himself. It was only right, perhaps; he had done wrong.
But was there right or wrong for such as he? What was right?
And who had ever taught him? He thrust the whole matter away.
Life in the Iron-Mills |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy: by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient
beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from
our present course. . .both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons,
both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing
to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of Mankind's
final war.
So let us begin anew. . .remembering on both sides that civility
is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.
Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
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