Category Archives: Character

Benjamin Franklin’s Humility

Posted on by April 30, 2016

Ben FranklinIn Benjamin Franklin’s Project for Moral Perfection he listed 13 characteristics that he wanted to improve during his lifetime. Yes, he wanted to become perfect. He had trouble with one of them and said:

“My list of virtues contain’d at first but twelve, but a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I was generally thought Proud; that my pride show’d itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content with being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc’e me by mentioning several instances; I determined endeavoring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest and I added humility to the rest.” read more

All Things Benjamin Franklin

Posted on by April 29, 2016

Ben Franklin thumb pictureIn Ben’s Project for Moral Perfection, he listed the third principle, “Order” as possibly the hardest of men’s shortcomings to overcome or be perfect in. He defined it as “Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”

He worked on this character trait judiciously for all his life, but once compared it to shining an ax to be brilliant while turning it on a grinding wheel. This gave him more trouble than most of his other character traits in his program to achieve perfection. read more

Connecticut Yankees

Posted on by April 26, 2016

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAToday the citizens of Connecticut will vote in their primary elections. Did you know that the State anthem of Connecticut is “Yankee Doodle”? I didn’t.

That is a very interesting song with a fascinating history. It was sung by the British during the French and Indian War to signify that the colonists weren’t very good soldiers. Not disciplined, not brave, not very smart.

Yankee Doodle went to town
A ridin on a pony.
Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni. Etc. Etc.

It was later sung by the British in the Revolutionary War to indicate their disdain for the rebels. Then it was adopted by some of the Revolutionary Soldiers, to throw it back in the face of the Redcoats. read more

George Washington and Walking Sticks

Posted on by April 25, 2016

Landsdowne paintingIn the 1700’s walking sticks were all the rage in England. Everyone wanted one it seemed. The government, of course became quite worried. So there was a law passed that in order to stroll with the aid of a cane one had to purchase a license and abide by a strict set of rules.

It seemed that one of the rules prohibited the person with the stick from gesturing with or waving the stick in the air. He also could not hang the cane from his waistcoat, nor tuck it under his arm.

Gentlemen, being the gentle men that they were, seldom disregarded any of these rules. Thus there was never a cane mutiny. read more

Service Club with Benjamin Franklin

Posted on by April 20, 2016

Ben FranklinHey, how would you like to have been in a service club with our Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin? Wouldn’t that have been great? He was a learned man, and you could learn much from him and his experience.

Benjamin Franklin founded “the Leather Apron Club,” more formally known as the Junto, in 1727, in Philadelphia. This was a forerunner of today’s types of service clubs such as Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, and Optimists clubs. It was intended to provide a place where friends could come to learn from each other and help others as well. read more

Doctor Franklin

Posted on by April 19, 2016

Ben Franklin thumb pictureI can remember being told sometime shortly after my receipt of my diploma for the grade of Juris Doctor (Doctor of Laws), that doctors were originally mostly lawyers! Well, we’re not to be confused with doctors of medicine. But the original doctor degrees were first issued to lawyers, doctors, and, of all things, religious leaders.

Nevertheless, Benjamin Franklin was often referred to as Doctor Franklin. I didn’t wonder about that too much until I started studying Dr. Franklin’s life. I learned that Benjamin Franklin received an honorary master’s degree from the College of William and Mary in 1756. He also received honorary DOCTOR degrees from across the Atlantic, the University of St. Andrews in 1759, the University of Oxford in 1762. And he also received doctorates from America’s oldest universities, Yale and Harvard. And then again from the College of William and Mary. read more

Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday!

Posted on by April 13, 2016

ThomasJeffersonThomas Jefferson should truly be remembered and honored today. What did he accomplish? I’ll just mention a few here. He graduated from William and Mary College and then studied law for 5 years under George Wythe, the first law professor in Virginia.

By then he was already an accomplished violinist and dancer. He fell in love with and married another musician, Martha Wayles Skelton. He had already begun construction on Montecello, so they moved in to the one room that was finished there. He worked on building and remodeling for the next 40 years. (If you haven’t been there, you should go to visit and to observe the detail and the beauty of his mansion on the hill. read more

What? A Violent Benjamin Franklin?

Posted on by April 11, 2016

Ben Franklin thumb pictureFranklin, of course, was first a printer. And a good one at that. Of course he needed things to print in his newspaper. He loved good stories. He even made some up—especially to discourage the British in the Revolutionary War.

Did he go too far? Only you can decide. In 1789, the year before Ben died, a newspaper article was printed in which Ben is reported to have said:

“My proposal, then, is to leave liberty of the press untouched, to be exercised in its full extent, force and vigor, but to permit liberty of the cudgel (which is a short and heavy club, for those of you who can’t remember your high school English) to go with it . . . .Thus, my fellow citizens, if an impudent writer attacks your reputation, dearer to you perhaps than your life, you may go to him openly and break his head.” (Clarence S. Brigham, Journals and Journeymen, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1950, page 69. Emphasis omitted, spelling and capitalization modernized. read more

Benjamin Franklin’s Mistakes He Never Made

Posted on by April 10, 2016

Ben FranklinBenjamin Franklin will be the first to admit that he made mistakes. Plenty of them. However, there appear to be at least 3 mistakes he never made. He tells us about those.

Franklin never accepted the current situation to be unchangeable. He thought he could change things for the better, and he looked for ways to do it. If something wasn’t quite right he would rack his mind, or work on whatever the conditions were until he could find a solution. A good example of this is when his brother suffered from kidney stones, he developed America’s first urinary catheter to ease the problem. read more

Humility for Benjamin Franklin!

Posted on by April 2, 2016

Ben FranklinYesterday I described on this blog Franklin’s Project for Moral Perfection. He had at first only 12 character traits he wanted to perfect. Then what happened is pretty comical as he describes it:

“My list of virtues contain’d at first but twelve; but a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my pride show’d itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content with being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc’d me by mentioning several instances, I determined endeavoring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my list.” read more