One of my heroes is Benjamin Franklin. I have found that he is likewise the hero to many Americans. As I have spoken to many different groups over the past 25 or 30 years about our Founding Fathers, I have found that the people’s favorite is hands down Benjamin Franklin.

My presentations based on his life are better attended and more eagerly and readily accepted that those of any other Founding Father about which I speak. Hands down. It’s not even very close. People of all ages and backgrounds love Ben Franklin!

The one thing that truly stands out about Ben is not his accomplishments so much as his character. As you know, he had a “Project for Moral Perfection” which he worked on regularly all of his life. I believe he must have become as close to perfection as anyone who lived other than Jesus Christ.

One of his sayings that gave him such rule, authority and control is captured in these words credited to him:

“It is not given to mankind to have complete control over the circumstances and events of their lives. Upheavals of nature, conflicts between nations, accidents, disease, and disappointments constantly nip at the heels and hedge up the way of all who walk the earth.

“Yet in every condition and circumstance of life may be seen the good, as well as the bad. While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.

“In every circumstance may be found those who are cheerful and those who are bitter, those who are pleasant and those who are hateful. The difference is not so much in the circumstance as in the person.”

Ben learned this early in his life, and actively applied this principle to his own life. As I said, he came close to perfection. Moral perfection.