| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: happiness of another is very far from compensating for the loss of our own.
According to Mr. Mill, he would best carry out the principle of utility who
sacrificed his own pleasure most to that of his fellow-men. But if so,
Hobbes and Butler, Shaftesbury and Hume, are not so far apart as they and
their followers imagine. The thought of self and the thought of others are
alike superseded in the more general notion of the happiness of mankind at
large. But in this composite good, until society becomes perfected, the
friend of man himself has generally the least share, and may be a great
sufferer.
And now what objection have we to urge against a system of moral philosophy
so beneficent, so enlightened, so ideal, and at the same time so
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.: is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds
himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to
dramatize an appalling condition.
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
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: precious metals. A short time since an English physician
returned to England from Copiapo, taking with him the
profits of one share of a silver-mine, which amounted to
about 24,000 pounds sterling. No doubt a copper-mine with
care is a sure game, whereas the other is gambling, or rather
taking a ticket in a lottery. The owners lose great quantities
of rich ores; for no precautions can prevent robberies.
I heard of a gentleman laying a bet with another, that one
of his men should rob him before his face. The ore when
brought out of the mine is broken into pieces, and the useless
stone thrown on one side. A couple of the miners who
The Voyage of the Beagle |
