Thanks to the many interesting articles and links shared by my friends on Twitter, I've come across an interesting post on Benjamin Franklin and his life lessons on virtue and morality. I wanted to share it with you today.
Here's an excerpt from, "Lessons in Manliness: Benjamin Franklin's Pursuit of the Virtuous Life":
"Benjamin Franklin is an American legend. He single handily invented the idea of the “self-made man.” Despite being born into a poor family and only receiving two years of formal schooling, Franklin became a successful printer, scientist, musician, and author. Oh, and in his spare time he helped found a country, and then serve as its diplomat.
The key to Franklin’s success was his drive to constantly improve himself and accomplish his ambitions. In 1726, at the age of 20, Ben Franklin set his loftiest goal: the attainment of moral perfection.
In order to accomplish his goal, Franklin developed and committed himself to a personal improvement program that consisted of living 13 virtues..."
Of course, no man is perfect, and (as the authors note) Ben Franklin was no exception to this rule, even with his continuous pursuit of the virtuous life.
Still, I wonder what we can learn from Franklin's quest. How would society and business function today if more of us decided to embark on a similar quest for self-improvement?
Related articles and posts:
1. Great Lessons from Great Men - Get Rich Slowly.
Friday, January 29, 2010
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3 comments:
Toni Preckwinkle uses a Ben Franklin look-alike in her new add, and somebody got mad at her because they said Franklin owned slaves!!!
Thanks, Peebs.
Don't know who Toni is (running for office I take it?) but there are now a legion of fools who will, thanks to recent fashions in public education and PC madness, cry over images of "the dead white men" who may have owned slaves in their time.
I'll continue to admire Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson for their good qualities, instead of focusing on their less admirable habits or the unfortunate conventions (such as slavery) of their times.
Interesting sidenote to the Ben Franklin & Founding Fathers' slavery tangent from PBS:
"Slavery was an accepted way of life in early colonial America. Without the work of slaves and indentured servants, the growing economy of the colonies would have been limited. Almost all of our country's founding fathers owned slaves at one time or another, including Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin owned two slaves, George and King, who worked as personal servants, and his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, commonly ran notices involving the sale or purchase of slaves and contracts for indentured laborers...
...The abolitionist movement in colonial America was fairly limited and considered quite radical. By the mid-1770s, a number of abolitionist organizations had begun to form.
After Franklin returned from France in 1785, he joined and eventually became president of an abolitionist group founded a decade earlier by the Pennsylvania Quakers. The group was called the Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. Franklin was convinced that not only the slave trade, but slavery itself should be eliminated. He eventually freed his own two slaves."
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