| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: all animals and with all plants. Even if these take place only at long
intervals, I am convinced that the young thus produced will gain so much in
vigour and fertility over the offspring from long-continued
self-fertilisation, that they will have a better chance of surviving and
propagating their kind; and thus, in the long run, the influence of
intercrosses, even at rare intervals, will be great. If there exist
organic beings which never intercross, uniformity of character can be
retained amongst them, as long as their conditions of life remain the same,
only through the principle of inheritance, and through natural selection
destroying any which depart from the proper type; but if their conditions
of life change and they undergo modification, uniformity of character can
On the Origin of Species |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: roads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex,
followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and
importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of
being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to
employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their
helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for
want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for
the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number
of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of
their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present
A Modest Proposal |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: stains.
People outside shook skeptical heads at this story of the cut hand.
The bloody waistcoat was not to be disposed of in that easy way.
It had fixed itself too strongly in their imagination. Indeed, my
belief is that even could they have seen the waistcoat, its
insignificant marks would have appeared murderous patches to their
eyes. I had seen it, and my report was listened to with ill-
concealed disbelief, when not with open protestation. And when
Kerkel was discharged as free from all suspicion, there was a low
growl of disappointed wrath heard from numerous groups.
This may sympathetically be understood by whomsoever remembers the
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