| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: terrible, so dark! and I shall go on living year after year, always in this
awful pain! Oh, if I could only die!"
The older woman stood looking into the fire; then slowly and measuredly she
said, "There are times, in life, when everything seems dark, when the brain
reels, and we cannot see that there is anything but death. But, if we wait
long enough, after long, long years, calm comes. It may be we cannot say
it was well; but we are contented, we accept the past. The struggle is
ended. That day may come for you, perhaps sooner than you think." She
spoke slowly and with difficulty.
"No, it can never come for me. If once I have loved a thing, I love it for
ever. I can never forget."
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: world, from the Greeks down through Machiavelli to the present moment,
has ever been of a subtlety adequate to conceal from an observant person
entering a room the fact that he has been the subject of their
conversation. This company, at any rate, did not conceal it from me. Not
even when the upcountry bride astutely greeted me with:--
"Why, we were just speaking of you! We were lust saying it would be a
perfect shame if you missed those flowers at Live Oaks." And, at this,
various of the guests assured me that another storm would finish them;
upon which I assured every one that to-morrow should see me embark upon
the Live Oaks excursion boat, knowing quite well in my heart that some
decidedly different question concerning me had been hastily dropped upon
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: been almost incredible three years ago. The Red Army
served as a text for many, who said that the methods which
had produced that army and its victories over the Whites had
been proved successful and should be used to produce a
Red Army of Labor and similar victories on the bloodless
front against economic disaster. Nobody seemed to question
the main idea of compulsory labor. The contest that aroused
real bitterness was between the methods of individual and
collegiate command. The new proposals lead eventually
towards individual command, and fears were expressed lest
this should mean putting summary powers into the hands of
|
