| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: "Nevertheless," said the fair Queen, nodding her golden head at the
Master Woodsman, "it would not be a vain guess that Ak has often
assisted these hapless mortals."
Ak smiled.
"Sometimes," he replied, "when they are very young--'children,' the
mortals call them--I have stopped to rescue them from misery. The men
and women I dare not interfere with; they must bear the burdens Nature
has imposed upon them. But the helpless infants, the innocent
children of men, have a right to be happy until they become full-grown
and able to bear the trials of humanity. So I feel I am justified in
assisting them. Not long ago--a year, maybe--I found four poor
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: founded and largely supported by himself. This was but one of the
many channels of his public generosity; his private was equally
unstrained. The Church of Scotland, of which he held the doctrines
(though in a sense of his own) and to which he bore a clansman's
loyalty, profited often by his time and money; and though, from a
morbid sense of his own unworthiness, he would never consent to be
an office-bearer, his advice was often sought, and he served the
Church on many committees. What he perhaps valued highest in his
work were his contributions to the defence of Christianity; one of
which, in particular, was praised by Hutchinson Stirling and
reprinted at the request of Professor Crawford.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: I considered the rides a part of the contract of what was
expected in my two months' performance. I did not dream that I was
enjoying them, any more than I supposed myself to be enjoying a
sea-bath while pulling Aunt Eliza to and fro in the surf. Nothing
in the life around me stirred me, nothing in nature attracted me.
I liked the fog; somehow it seemed to emanate from me instead of
rolling up from the ocean, and to represent me. Whether I went
alone or not, the coachman was ordered to drive a certain round;
after that I could extend the ride in whatever direction I pleased,
but I always said, "Anywhere, William." One afternoon, which
happened to be a bright one, I was riding on the road which led to
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