| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: superintendent. His fingers were just striking the first tap when
a silken voice startled him.
"One moment, friend. No use being in a hurry."
The agent looked up and nearly fell from his stool. He was gazing
into the end of a revolver held carelessly in the hand of a
masked man leaning indolently on the counter.
"Whe--where did you come from?" the operator gasped.
"Kaintucky, but I been here a right smart spell. Why? You takin'
the census?" came the drawling answer.
"I didn't hear youse come in."
"I didn't hear you come in, either," the man behind the mask
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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: million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two
hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders; from which
number I subtract thirty thousand couple, who are able to
maintain their own children, (although I apprehend there cannot
be so many, under the present distresses of the kingdom) but this
being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand
breeders. I again subtract fifty thousand, for those women who
miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the
year. There only remain an hundred and twenty thousand children
of poor parents annually born. The question therefore is, How
this number shall be reared, and provided for? which, as I have
A Modest Proposal |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.: In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check.
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words
of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they
were signing a promissory note to which every American was to
fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be
guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory
note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of
honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro
people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient
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