Example of raw PICLE data

This is the very first essay in the whole PICLE corpus. You will be able to view its tagged version if you click here.

PPME01.TXT

One often hears the despondent voice their complaints about the deteriorating condition of human creativity which is due to the overdevelopment of technology. What a preposterous idea! Neither technology nor industrialization can impede our capability of dreaming or using our imagination since human minds intrinsically harbor vast amounts of creative powers. We simple need these to overcome daily hazards and excuse our uncommendable behavior.

One area in which we urgently need the help of our imagination is school. Every young person realizes that this institution is not the most attractive place in which to spend those short and therefore precious hours of youth. So rather than face the boredom of educational grind, we manufacture scores of elaborate excuses in order to avoid responsability for our misdemeanors. And this in itself constitutes a miraculous mental exercise. Ages of formal instruction could not equal the intellectual benefits we reap of those intense bouts of creativity when we try to explain our absence, lateness or lack of homework. And what is more important, our inventive efforts have to remain vigorous all the time, since any excuse used twice becomes inescapably cliche.

It is a sad truth that adult life breeds adult problems. And this determines the different direction in which the development of our mental powers goes. We are now grown-up and sensible individuals and our worries are of adequately paramount significance. We will go to any lengths to be pardoned for our sloth and continue to be considered full-fledged adults. Thus, we no longer say: "I have not done my homework because my dog chewed it up" but we are more likely to come up with something like this: "My child is in the hospital and I cannot come to work" or "My wife has just run away with my best friend so it was impossible for me to meet the deadline". And it really does not matter that the person involved is a childless bachelor - the boss is so struck by the employee's tragedy that s/he does even notice this blatant inconsistency. It has to be remembered, however, the samples mentioned above are just the most basic and worn-out excuses that would never be used by a truly creative individual.

Ironically, we make use of domestic problems to excuse our inefficiency at work and the other way round. Whenever we come back home after midnight or (perish the thought) next morning, our boss (depicted as a ruthless despot) always plays the role of the culprit. Yes, that is true - coping with a shrewish wife or kind but a little bit dull husband also requires constant cerebation on our part. And here, our task is probably the hardest since no matter how vehemently we try to deny it, it is our spouses who know us best. Consequently, it is the quality of our brainchildren that matters most. No wife would believe that the office computer exudes the suffocating Opium-like fragrance, just as no husband (even the most loving one) would be willing to accept some flimsy explanation about his wife having to work all night with a group of special-slows before an upcoming exam.

When, regardless of all explanations we have used we are forced to shoulder the grievious burden of too many responsibilities and we feel we have too little time to truly enjoy the few pleasures that have been given to us, we can always afford a little flight from the grim reality - we can dream. In this harmless game called "What Would Happen If..." we are freely allowed to wallow in glorious visions of our success accompanied by inescapable failure of our mortal enemies-teachers, employers, spouses. Here our imagination reaches its zenith. We rack our brains with unheard-of intensity to invent the tortures that would suit those monsters best. And after such relaxation conjoined with an effective brain exercise we are ready to resume our educational, professional, and connubial duties.

There is not a single sound reason to worry that the advancing industrialization wreaks havoc on the formidable might the human mind is naturally endowed with. As long as humans interact the scope for their creativity will remain virtually unlimited.

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