| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: pastor's salary WAS slightly in arrears. Elverson coughed
meekly. Strong started.
"You keep out of this, Elverson!" he cried. "I'm running this
affair and I ain't forgetting my duty nor the parson's."
"I shall endeavour to do MY duty as I see it," answered Douglas,
turning away and dismissing the matter.
"Your duty is to your church," thundered Strong.
"You're right about that, Deacon Strong'" answered Douglas,
wheeling about sharply, "and my duty to the church is reason
enough for my acting exactly as I am doing in this case."
"Is your duty to the church the ONLY reason you keep that girl
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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: town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the
roads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex,
followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and
importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of
being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to
employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their
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
A Modest Proposal |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy: 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.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring
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