| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: that before the messenger returned from the diviner, he was dead. And my
father and family are angry with me for taking the part of the murderer and
prosecuting my father. They say that he did not kill him, and that if he
did, the dead man was but a murderer, and I ought not to take any notice,
for that a son is impious who prosecutes a father. Which shows, Socrates,
how little they know what the gods think about piety and impiety.
SOCRATES: Good heavens, Euthyphro! and is your knowledge of religion and
of things pious and impious so very exact, that, supposing the
circumstances to be as you state them, you are not afraid lest you too may
be doing an impious thing in bringing an action against your father?
EUTHYPHRO: The best of Euthyphro, and that which distinguishes him,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for
want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for
the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number
of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of
their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present
deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great additional
grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and
easy method of making these children sound and useful members of
the common-wealth, would deserve so well of the publick, as to
have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.
A Modest Proposal |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: knuckles of his right hand, and a low voice from within
whispered, "Enter."
Silently he strode into the apartment, a small ante-
chamber off a large hall. At one end was an open
hearth upon which logs were burning brightly, while
a single lamp aided in diffusing a soft glow about the
austere chamber. In the center of the room was a table,
and at the sides several benches.
Before the fire stood Bertrade de Montfort, and she
was alone.
"Place your burden upon this table, Flory," said Nor-
The Outlaw of Torn |
