| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: furrowed face, and laid his trembling hand upon the trunk. "I
planted the nut," said he, "from which this tree grew. And my
father was with me and showed me how to plant it."
Yes, there is a good deal to be said in behalf of tree-worship; and
when I recline with my friend Tityrus beneath the shade of his
favourite oak, I consent in his devotions. But when I invite him
with me to share my orisons, or wander alone to indulge the luxury
of grateful, unlaborious thought, my feet turn not to a tree, but
to the bank of a river, for there the musings of solitude find a
friendly accompaniment, and human intercourse is purified and
sweetened by the flowing, murmuring water. It is by a river that I
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Animal Farm by George Orwell: farm, Squealer said. But still, neither pigs nor dogs produced any food by
their own labour; and there were very many of them, and their appetites
were always good.
As for the others, their life, so far as they knew, was as it had always
been. They were generally hungry, they slept on straw, they drank from the
pool, they laboured in the fields; in winter they were troubled by the
cold, and in summer by the flies. Sometimes the older ones among them
racked their dim memories and tried to determine whether in the early
days of the Rebellion, when Jones's expulsion was still recent, things had
been better or worse than now. They could not remember. There was nothing
with which they could compare their present lives: they had nothing to go
Animal Farm |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: previous rulers had demanded.
The married life of this young couple was a short one. Three
years after their wedding ceremonies the young monarch contracted
smallpox and died without issue, and was followed shortly
afterwards by his young wife who heeded literally the instruction
of one of their female teachers in her duty to her husband to
Share his joy as well as sorrow, riches, poverty or guilt,
And in death be buried with him, as in life you shared his guilt.
That her nearest relatives did not believe, as has often been
suggested, that there was any "foul play" in regard to her death,
is evident from the fact that her father continued to hold office
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