| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: my intention, an intention, they told me, it was impossible to put
in execution. From the moment I left them they said they could give
me no assurance of either life or liberty, that they were perfectly
informed both of the roads and inhabitants, that there were no fewer
than nine nations between us and Abyssinia, who were always
embroiled amongst themselves, or at war with the Abyssins, and
enjoyed no security even in their own territories. We were now
convinced that our enterprise was impracticable, and that to hazard
ourselves amidst so many insurmountable difficulties would be to
tempt Providence; despairing, therefore, that I should ever come
this way to Abyssinia, I resolved to return back with my
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: topmasts in leaping arms of fire, and the voluminous smoke
pursuing him along the face of the lagoon. In one hour's time,
he computed, the waters would have closed over the stolen ship.
It so chanced that, as his boat flew before the wind with much
vivacity, and his eyes were continually busy in the wake,
measuring the progress of the flames, he found himself embayed
to the northward of the point of palms, and here became aware
at the same time of the figure of Davis immersed in his devotion.
An exclamation, part of annoyance, part of amusement, broke
from him: and he touched the helm and ran the prow upon the
beach not twenty feet from the unconscious devotee. Taking the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: to lay the foundations, while the students that are to be are said
to be fitting themselves for it; and for these oversights successive
generations have to pay. I think that it would be better than this,
for the students, or those who desire to be benefited by it, even to
lay the foundation themselves. The student who secures his coveted
leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor
necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure,
defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure
fruitful. "But," says one, "you do not mean that the students
should go to work with their hands instead of their heads?" I do
not mean that exactly, but I mean something which he might think a
Walden |
