| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: rebellious and take no pains about themselves; but that if they take pains
they may, perhaps, become worthy of the names which they bear. They, on
their part, promise to comply with our wishes; and our care is to discover
what studies or pursuits are likely to be most improving to them. Some one
commended to us the art of fighting in armour, which he thought an
excellent accomplishment for a young man to learn; and he praised the man
whose exhibition you have seen, and told us to go and see him. And we
determined that we would go, and get you to accompany us; and we were
intending at the same time, if you did not object, to take counsel with you
about the education of our sons. That is the matter which we wanted to
talk over with you; and we hope that you will give us your opinion about
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Walking by Henry David Thoreau: wilderness on the earth, which he has so eloquently described.
The geographer Guyot, himself a European, goes farther--farther
than I am ready to follow him; yet not when he says: "As the
plant is made for the animal, as the vegetable world is made for
the animal world, America is made for the man of the Old
World.... The man of the Old World sets out upon his way. Leaving
the highlands of Asia, he descends from station to station
towards Europe. Each of his steps is marked by a new civilization
superior to the preceding, by a greater power of development.
Arrived at the Atlantic, he pauses on the shore of this unknown
ocean, the bounds of which he knows not, and turns upon his
Walking |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: him will quickly collapse.
In the fundamental part he therefore argues: Truly good works are
not self-elected works of monastic or any other holiness, but
such only as God has commanded, and as are comprehended within
the bounds of one's particular calling, and all works, let their
name be what it may, become good only when they flow from faith,
the first, greatest, and noblest of good works." (John 6:29.) In
this connection the essence of faith, that only source of all
truly good works, must of course be rightly understood. It is the
sure confidence in God, that all my doing is wellpleasing to Him;
it is trust in His mercy, even though He appears angry and puts
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