| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: "Not in all the empire is there another singer like Hoichi!" Then fresh
courage came to him, and he played and sang yet better than before; and a
hush of wonder deepened about him. But when at last he came to tell the
fate of the fair and helpless,-- the piteous perishing of the women and
children,-- and the death-leap of Nii-no-Ama, with the imperial infant in
her arms,-- then all the listeners uttered together one long, long
shuddering cry of anguish; and thereafter they wept and wailed so loudly
and so wildly that the blind man was frightened by the violence and grief
that he had made. For much time the sobbing and the wailing continued. But
gradually the sounds of lamentation died away; and again, in the great
stillness that followed, Hoichi heard the voice of the woman whom he
Kwaidan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: health to a good old age, and bequeath a similar life to their children
after them.
Yes, Socrates, he said, and if you were providing for a city of pigs, how
else would you feed the beasts?
But what would you have, Glaucon? I replied.
Why, he said, you should give them the ordinary conveniences of life.
People who are to be comfortable are accustomed to lie on sofas, and dine
off tables, and they should have sauces and sweets in the modern style.
Yes, I said, now I understand: the question which you would have me
consider is, not only how a State, but how a luxurious State is created;
and possibly there is no harm in this, for in such a State we shall be more
The Republic |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Neuchatel, that he might beguile her from an attachment they
had all regretted. The device succeeded. The toy once in her
hand, the passionate girl had kept it, had clung to him with
all her might; he could not shake her off. Nor was this the
worst, for to his dismay he found himself responding to her
love with a self-abandonment of ardor for which all former
loves had been but a cool preparation. He had not intended
this; it seemed hardly his fault: his intentions had been
good, or at least not bad. This piquant and wonderful fruit of
nature, this girlish soul, he had merely touched it and it was
his. Its mere fragrance was intoxicating. Good God! what
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