“To laugh often and love much, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give one’s self, this it to have succeeded.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I believe that this is an accurate description of Thomas Jefferson. He did laugh at funny occurrences. I’ll give you an example:

One day while President Jefferson was out riding his horse as he did quite often. He came upon a man and stopped to talk with him. The man reviled the current President, not knowing he was current talking with the man himself.

Jefferson saw the humor in it and so invited the man to be fair and to come to the White House and be introduced to the President. The man showed up the next day and it became apparent that he was actually talking to the President in the President’s house.

He stayed for dinner and President Jefferson quickly won him over to become a supporter.

Jefferson also loved beauty. If you have any doubt about this, just visit his home at Monticello. He designed the beautiful mansion, gardens, and out buildings. And in his home he had beautiful artwork, portraits, and sculptures. He loved the things he brought with him from France.

He always looked for the best in others. He loved his friend and compatriot, John Adams. He referred to him as “the Colossus” in the debate over Tom’s Declaration of Independence. John and Tom carried on a correspondence for over 14 years, prior to their deaths. Both of them died on the 50th Anniversary of that Declaration of Independence they had worked on together.

Jefferson certainly gave of himself. As author of the Declaration of Independence. Service as Governor of Virginia, President of the United States for two terms, and as the designer and first President of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

So it’s easy to say Thomas Jefferson has succeeded!