| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: to change his habits of life, that daily he put off his plans of
reform until the morrow. The debts were pressing, and he began by
borrowing money. His position and previous character inspired
confidence, and of this he took advantage to devise a system of
borrowing money as he required it. Then, as the total amount of debt
rapidly increased, he had recourse to those commercial inventions
known as accommodation bills. This form of bill does not represent
goods or other value received, and the first endorser pays the amount
named for the obliging person who accepts it. This species of fraud is
tolerated because it is impossible to detect it, and, moreover, it is
an imaginary fraud which only becomes real if payment is ultimately
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"
"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant,
"and recommend you to do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got
plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and
continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no
food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants
distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had
collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.
The Tree and the Reed
Aesop's Fables |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: that he was ragged and dirty, and smelled bad, and had no place
to sleep that night!
And so, at last, when the meeting broke up, and the audience
started to leave, poor Jurgis was in an agony of uncertainty.
He had not thought of leaving--he had thought that the vision must
last forever, that he had found comrades and brothers. But now
he would go out, and the thing would fade away, and he would
never be able to find it again! He sat in his seat, frightened
and wondering; but others in the same row wanted to get out, and
so he had to stand up and move along. As he was swept down the
aisle he looked from one person to another, wistfully; they were
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