Be Like Ben--Journal #5
An older and wiser man writing his autobiography, Ben Franklin laid down his prescription for success: list 13 virtues, work on one per week (like eradicating weeds from one flower bed at a time), each evening examine your day to see if you had made any errors contrary to that virtue (keep a record in a lined notebook), proceed to the next virtue the next week, and continue this process for a year (you'll be able to go through four cycles in 52 weeks).As a young man hiding behind the nom de plume of Poor Richard Saunders, Franklin's words of wisdom often took the shape of clever, pithily worded aphorisms like "God helps them that help themselves; a penny saved is a penny earned; fish and visitors smell in three days; an apple a day keeps the doctor away, etc."
Your journal assignment gives you some options. You may (choose one of the three):
A. Tell me a personal or family tale that represents one of Franklin's virtues.
B. Tell me a personal or family tale that represents the theme of one of Franklin's aphorisms. Write that aphorism as part of your title.
C. Relate some orderly plan that you contrived in order to achieve some goal.
Let's get to work on this pronto. "Do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of" (Franklin, of course).
posted by JTF @ 7:44 AM
38 comments
38 Comments:
Okay, After thinking about it, I've decided to go with option A. I have an uncle who is very frugal, even though he can afford not to be. My Uncle Larry works out in South Pasadena, CA for a company called Naked Juice that makes, big surprise, fruit juice. The company is very successful, although you may not have heard of them due to the fact that it's impossible for the product to be sold on the East Coast, resulting in my uncle making a lot of money. He has also been very successful with other jobs that he has had working for big companies like Nabisco and Campbell Soup. (I know what you're thinking and no, I'm not making this up!) So yeah, he's pretty well off. He could probably afford to buy a really nice place for his girlfriend and himself, but instead, they live in an appartment. It's a nice, big appartment, and the rent is a pretty penny, but thats really nothing compared to what he's got. He saves all that money that he makes and uses it to do nice things for himself once in a while instead of spending it on luxuries. My dad calls him cheap, but I think my uncle's got the right idea. He saves the money for when he really needs it, and I think that's what Ben would have done!
Carol
ok so im going with choice B.
"fish and visitors smell in 3 days"
My cousins, Natalie, Tiffany, and Gabrielle, came down to spend 5 days down here. Tiffany and Natalie are from NY so their not used to doing anything themselves. They are sued to other people doing it for them. On the third day they were here my mom took us all to the beach. We packed up everything in the car and were all set to go at least I was. Now Natalie and Tiffany, God forbid anyone seeing them without makeup on, were in the bathroom putting on makeup that would be washed off in the ocean. The point of doing that I will never understand. So we are there for 5 hours and my youngest sister starts the complaining about wanting to go home. My mom, my other sister Amanda, Gabrielle, and myself look at her like she is nuts. Natalie and Tiffany join in with Taylor saying the sun is too hot and the ocean to cold. We all listened to the three of them sulk around for about an hour before my mom told them to go up to the car to get changed. They did and it took an hour and a half to get changed. The rest of us started packing up when the three of them came back down Natalie and Tiffany just should and watched us start carrying stuff. They didnt offer to help or did the want to until my mom yelled at them. My sister and I had to take stuff from them becuase they were complaing so much that it was just to heavy for them to carry. Basically my sister, cousin and I took up everything from the beach back to the car without the help of my youngest sister and two older cousins. My mom then said we are no longer having them stay more than 2 days becuase she doesnt think should could stand them any longer. I agreed 100% with her and Ben Franklin;"fish and visitors smell after 3 days."
I decided to go with choice B how one of the aphorisms apply to my life. A penny saved is a penny earned. This aphorism reminds me of my sister and myself. My sister is almost the exact opposite of this saying. Whenever she gets money she spends it right away on silly things and then later she complains that she has no money for what she really wants and always asks other people for more money. Also when my mom gives her money when she goes to a party where they can buy things she always tries to spend all the money that she is given even if there is just a dime left she hardly ever gives back change.she also just buys stuff just for the sake of having it. I am almost like this aphorism because I always save my money when I get it even if I am not saving up for something. I also usually don't waste my money on things that I don't need or really want that much. This has been my story about how one of Ben's aphorisms apply to my life. My sister is 100% opposite of it, and I am an example of this aphorism.
Adam
Option B: Tim was so learned, that he could name a horse in nine Languages. So ignorant, that he bought a cow to ride on.
This aphorism's is basicly saying that it is possible for one to be very smart and still have no common sense. This saying reminds me of a visit to my grandfather's house one weekend. A common tradition there is for the extended family to play a game of Scrabble. It's really just for fun, but everyone plays their best. So when my cousin Errol, who is a few years younger than myself, beat the entire family, it was quite a surprise, especially since Errol gives the usual impression of being a little slow. He was rather proud of this achievement, and bragged about his use of big words to all those who had lost. Later, however, while returning after a walk back to my grandfather's house, Errol decided to bolt across South Eagle Road, arguably the busiest street in town, without looking in either direction (it should also be noted that he was jaywalking). Within a second after leaping off the curb, Errol was face-to-face with a sedan. Every heart within a 50-foot radius missed a beat. Luckily, the highly alert driver of the car was able to slam on the brakes just in time, sparing injury to Errol and automobile. Later, back at the house, while Errol received a powerful lecture from his mother, the rest of us mused at how the family Srabble champion can't even cross the street.
Option B !
I think one of my favorite aphorisms from Ben Franklin has to be When the well is dry; we then know the worth of water.
It just really sums up how I try to live life; to know what's important to you and not take it or anything else for granted.
A somewhat comical example of this was a few years ago when i went away to Camp Tockwogh on the Chesapeake Bay. I was about 9 years old if i remember correctly, and hadn't really ever been away at camp. The cabins were in thick woods and the showers were a good walking distance away. A twelve day session of camp, I was missing home pretty soon. It's not that camp wasn't fun, i loved it! But I just wasn't used to that woodsey, outdoors thing. Being the pickiest eater around, I was just about starving myself off the camp dining hall food. So i guess you could say those twelve days couldn't have gone by any slower and i was the happiest kid to see their parents and go home! It really made me appreciate everything about home; my own bed, home-cooked meals, air conditioning, indoor showering... Boy, was i happy to be home!
Okay Mr. Fiorelli Ive decided that Im going to do Option #2. My mom and dad are very strict people when it comes to food and whenever we go out we go to a nice restaurant theres no junk food for us; and one time when we were going out to dinner with some family friends they told us that it was a nice change eating something other then fast food; and when we told them we don't even bother with it they asked us why we never at at like a McDonalds or Burgerking. Then My mom simply told "a wise man once said the a penny a day keeps the docter away and we follow that saying today." Although this aphorism applies to my life at home I am happy to say that when I am away from home McDonalds is the only thing I eat. So I guess I need a little work on that. So thats my story hope you liked it.
I am going with option B.
I picked "When the well is dry, you will know the worth of water". I picked this because it reminds me of not a story about my family, but one about my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. My Aunt and Uncle have never been people with a lot of money, but they have lived comfortably. As my cousin got older, she started like the typical girly things; hair, makeup, and fashion. The older she got, the more expensive her taste would get. After going through some financial trouble, my aunt would not give my cousin so much money to spend on clothes and makeup. After my aunt would spend $300 on clothes for her, she would want to go spend more money on shampoo, makeup, and food. After she would tell my cousin this, I would here for a few hours about she isn't spending that much money or about how she doesn't spend that much. This only proves that when the financial situation got tight, my cousin realized how important it was to save money.
In my family, we have a tradition of coming together, my immediate and extended family, of coming together on Sunday's for dinner. Normally, there are at least 10 people at dinner. As you can imagine, that means there's a whole lot of food. This is where Benjamin Franklin's virtue of temperance comes in.
I personally do not excercise temperance too well, especially, on Sunday's. I don't have much of a problem with drinking, and when I say drinking, I'm referring to tea. In all honesty, I do try not to eat so much, but it all just tastes so good.
Either my mom or my grandmother does the cooking. When my mom cooks, she tries to make healthier foods. However, even then I have trouble. I don't really care what kind of food it is. I even like vegetables, a lot. There have even been occasions where I've eaten enough to keep me satisfied through Monday. That probably isn't too healthy, but I don't do it that often. I suppose that what I am saying is, I love food. Every Sunday I let loose and excerise no temperance at all.
I decided to go with choice A.
My grandmother is a widow and lives by herself in a decent sized house outside of rockville. My grandfather was in the Navy and had a nice job. My grandmother was a nurse in a hospital for a long. My grandmother is pretty well off so to say, she receives 2 pension checks and everytime I see her, she gives me twenty dollars and I feel so bad but i know she had nothing else ot do with it. I believe she is afraid of change. She has used to same vacuum cleaner for 25 years. My dad tried to buy her one and switch it with her old one, but she threw a fit and got her way. This is the crazy thing; She has used the same ziploc bags for FIFTEEN YEARS. Imagine that, she says all she ever does is just wash them out once she is done with them. I don't understand how a a bag like that would last so long. I know my mom goes through about a box a week. My grandmother is the epitome of stingy.
TP red.
Diction problem. Wouldn't call Grandma stingy if she is giving away $20 on each visit. Frugal or unusually thrifty, maybe. Bet Granny enjoys giving money to you instead of paying ZipLoc for new bags. Good story.
Thanks.
I wanted to talk about the subject of temperance. This was a very good idea and a very simple thing to work on.
My friend Zach though has no concept of this virtue. From what I have heard, him and another kid once ate 2 big chocolate pies and I had to laugh. Zach is 18 and one of the skinniest people I know. He also has no common sense, and will often take dares just to prove what he is capable of. Well, one time some friends and me were hanging out with Zach when he found one of those 2-pound cans of Sysco Tapioca Pudding. We sat there awhile, and slowly but surely Zach ate the whole thing by himself. Afterwards, he almost got sick and swore that he would never eat pudding again.
This incident taught me about temperance and how you should limit what you do or you will get sick. Whether it is pudding or something like alcohol people have to be able to control themselves, or they will inevitably embarrass themselves
I am chosing option B. I'm going with Ben Franklins' aphorism, "Fish and visitors smell in three days." This aphorism is showing that people can over-welcome they're stay just alittle too long. It reminds me of this summer while I was up in Maine, staying with my sister. She was about to have her baby in close to 3 more weeks. So our family from Philadelphia and Delaware came up to throw her a baby shower. Now, I have some crazy little cousins, who can get very annoying. After the second day or so my sister was overwhelmed with all the loud noises and crazy kids running around her house. She just wanted them out! But, they were there for a few more days. The next day, my sister was taking a nap from being so tired. The kids went in her room, yelling and throwing the cat on her.. she just couldn't handle it anymore. She decided to have the baby shower the next day. After the baby shower, that went very well may I add, our family headed home. My sister was exhausted from they're stay and just slept all day.
I was stuck between option A and option B, but i finally decided to go with A.
My grandfather can be very frugal sometimes. He definitely does not like to waist anything. If there are leftovers from a meal that my grandmother figures no one is going to eat and is just going to throw them out, he will take them and eat them just so she isn't throwing good food out. Sometimes when i am at their house eating, i won't always finish whatever it is that i'm eating. If he sees me start to get up to go throw it out because i don't want the rest, he'll say "hear, bring it hear, i'll eat it". He will throw the stale bread out in his yard for the birds and the squirrels and whatever else to eat, rather than just throwing it out.
My mom at one time used to be the same way. We would be at our beach house and we would BBQ, so we used paper plates and plastic utensils. She would have all of us put the plastic ware in the sink when we threw out our plates and, later, she would wash them instead of throwing them out (which defeats the whole purpose of plastic ware). She doesn't do it anymore though; we all throw out the plastic ware like you're supposed to.
Even though my mom's old habit might seem a bit crazier, my grandfather is definitely someone who is the epitome of frugal if i've ever seen one.
I've decided to go with Option B. I chose Ben Franklin's aphorism "Fish and visitors smell in three days". This aphorism says that even though things might seem good at first like a nice fish they can get old and bothersome if they're around you for too long. This reminds me of the time I went with my sister to stay with my Aunt, Uncle, and two little cousins at their beach house for a week. Now normally I love to visit with them because they live two hours away from us and we don't see them that often. I was so excited that I was going to get to spend a whole week with them. Everything was going fine for the first couple of days. My sister and I would play games with them and go to the beach with them. However, towards the end of the week playing four-year old games like house everyday gets old. My cousins would want to start a new activity every five minutes. And they would leave the mess for my sister and me to clean up. They had so much energy and wanted to do everything. I felt like I had no alone time and I was definitely ready to go home. It was a really fun trip but I think a week with children so much younger than you can be very tiring and if you get asked to do it you might want to think twice about it.
I will be going with choice B.
"God helps them who help themselves."
This quote simply means a lot to me. A very close family member of mine passed away three years ago. It was not sudden beacause they had an illness. It hurts to know that someone who is close to you has a limit on their life. All my life we have been going to church. I was always taught to rely on God. After the news that my close family member had passed away, I could not just give up on my life. I had to fight to get through it. My loving family was there to help me. The most important thing for me was having God on my side!
It has been three long years without that close family member, but with God and my family I am getting through it. Now that the hard part is over with, I can remember the good times with my deceased family member. With the help of family of friends, I was healed from the death of my close family member. As a result, God was always there for me - helping me through every step of the way.
I chose option B.
"A penny saved is a penny earned."
A few weeks before my family goes on vacation we set out a container to collect all of our loose change. When we have loose change, we put the change into the container. Also, when we see loose change lying around the house we put the change into the container. Over the few weeks, the money really adds up. A few days before we leave, we count up all of the money. My brother, my sister and I roll all of the loose change that we collected. Next, we bring all of the money that we rolled to the bank. We then turn in all of our change for cash. This money that we collected is used for special items we would like to purchase during our vacation. I think that saving all of the loose change before a vacation is a good idea. By saving your change, you can put your change to good use. Instead of just having change lying around the house, we are able to buy cool things from all different places. You may not think that by saving all of your loose change that you will get much money, but it really adds up. I think that this example fits the aphorism "a penny saved is a penny earned."
I chose to write about choice B. The aphorism "a penny saved is a penny earned."
We all know that turning 16 is a big year. We, sophs, are able to get our permits and we all want cars, but most of our parents dont want to buy us our own cars so we have to save up for a car. I chose "a penny saved is a penny earned" because of the fact that I am saving up for my own car. I just started saving this past summer by working with my dad as his work's file lady! I saved up about 1000 dollars over the summer and through september. That is a really good start to saving up for a nice used car.
Another reason why i chose this phrase was because it reminds me of my brothers. As most of you know i have twin younger brothers, Thomas and David. Thomas always saves his money to buy big things. For example, he just bought a $400 dollar laptop with his own money! On the other hand, David is like me, he likes to spend his money. Even though we deny it, David and I are alike in a lot of ways.
Ben Frankin was a great American. He made so many things. This is definitely my favorite aphorism, ever!
Since everyone else has chosen choice A and B, I guess I will go with C. My longtime goal has been to get straight A's at least once. Unfortunately, every year I always fall short of my goal no matter how hard I try. When I think about how hard I worked, however, I always remember times when I could have worked a bit harder or studied a bit more. Just those few extra points could have gotten me the grades I desired. But all I can do now is move on and try harder in the future. To achieve this seemingly impossible goal, I have come up with a plan to help me stay on track. First, I have to keep up and stay ahead of my homework. The further along I am, the more time I can devote to study and review which will help me to retain the information longer than cramming the night before will. Second, I have to study more. While I have been trying harder this year, I find myself waiting until two days or the day before the test to study which only serves to confuse me and drive half of the information out of my mind. There is too much information on test in high school to wait to study the night before. Last, I need to slow down when I take tests. Sometimes I race through to get it done, but sometimes it is because I am too overconfident. Either way, rushing costs me quite a few points on many tests, bringing my grade down just enough to miss getting an A. With this plan in place, I hope to be able to keep my grade high enough to achieve my goal of straight A's.
azgreen
I chose option B. “Speak little, do much” is one of Franklin’s aphorisms, which I feel I have been taught by my Dad and learned through personal experience. While I was growing up my Dad coached me in baseball. He was a great baseball player so he had lots to teach my teammates and me. He never would allow boasting or bragging on the field or off. He always told me to prove myself on the field because talk is cheap. Players who talk about how good they are and boast about winning aren’t always able to back it up. I remember playing for the District Championship when I was 12 years old. The team we were playing was from Downingtown and very confident coming into the game. The week before the game they were bragging about how good they were, and how they were going to beat us. They came to the game cheering and with balloons expecting to be the champions, and beat our team easily. We were the underdogs coming into the game because we had to beat them twice. All week our team didn’t talk about winning, but practiced hard. We were humble and proved our talent on the field. We were victorious in both games and advance to the State Tournament. This aphorism has taught me how important it is to be humble about your talents because I you are good at something you will prove yourself when it really matters.
B. Fear not Death; for the
sooner we die, the longer
shall we be immortal.
This aphorism reminded me of when my grandmother died. She had Alzheimer's disease and her kidneys were gradually failing. When i was about 10, her Alzheimer's actually started to show. She would forget normal, everyday stuff. Eventually, my family had to take her in and let her live in our house. My grandmother was not very happy about that though. When you have Alzheimer's, you don't believe that you have it. Even if you do believe it, you would just forget it a few minutes later anyway. I had to keep an eye on her and pretty much babysit her during the summer. I made her lunch and even entertained her. After about a year, we had to put her into a nursing home specifically for Alzheimer's patients. She was there for about another year when her kidneys began failing more and more rapidly. I knew she didn't have much time left. Soon she didn't even recognize me or know who I was. Then, one day coming home from softball practice, my mom called and told me and my dad that we had to come over to Somerford immediately. I'll never forget it. The nursing home was having their annual Christmas party for the residents and their families. My grandmother was in her room laying on her bed with her eyes wide open, yet she was completely unresponsive. She wouldn't even move. The next few days I thought about her all the time. The doctors told us that she had less than 48 hours to live. In my thoughts, I decided that I guess it was better for her to pass away. She had been suffering for a while and it was about time that she had suffered enough. Plus, she would be with her husband. I accepted the fact that she wasn't going to be with me anymore on earth. But I will still see her again someday when I pass away. When she died, of course I was sad, but it had taught me not to be afraid of death because I will still always be with the people i love. Whether it is in heaven or in their hearts, I will always be with them.
option A.
All of my life, I've grown up with a family that loves to cook. My grandmother cooks huge meals on holidays and everytime we decide to go over and visit for the day. They taste delicious and i enjoy eating them more than anything but I sometimes almost hate going over there just because I know that I'm going to overeat and I always feel guilty. Unforunately the love for cooking was passed onto my dad who cooks a huge dinner every sunday. This doesn't help me at all because I have to deal with my issie of overeating at home too. Because of these traditions, I make sure that I don't eat a lot throughout the day on sundays and especially a few days before major holidays. I've even gotten to the point where I don't eat a lot when my mom or dad tells me that we're going to my grandmother's house for the day. I've learned to prepare myself simply because I eat a lot on these occasions and I can't resist the wonderful food that is prepared. This leads me to believe that I have a big problem with Ben's virtue of temperance. Sometimes I overeat and I don't even realize it. The food is just so good, I keep eating even when I'm not hungry anymore. It's gotten so bad that I don't eat in advance just so that I can have more room to eaton a particular day. I'm not usually like that on a regular basis. I usually eat very little and only eat until I'm full. But for some reason when it comes to my dad's or my grandmother's food, I overeat a lot and I have a lot of trouble holding Ben's virtue of temperance true.
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
It was a Wednesday morning; a week before my big history final and grades were due. I had promised myself that I would study everyday that 7-day-period to maintain my 3.8 grade point average. I thought to myself “Oh this will be a piece of cake”, not knowing what would be in store for me. The next few days I didn’t take one peak at my notes; instead I attended football games, shopped at the mall and pigged out in front of the T.V. But then I realized I was Sunday, and now I only had two and a half days to cram for the test. The pressure was unbearable and what had seemed like one day going by, turned out to be three. I had less time then I imagined to cram for this test and I was almost about ready to give up. So on Sunday night, an hour before I was to be asleep, I knelt by my bedside and prayed to the Lord. “God I know I should have started studying the minute I received the test material but if you could just let me pass this test with a B I will be eternally grateful.”
The next couple days I did nothing but study. Times I would normally download the latest song, I studied. At a time when my favorite sit-com was on, I studied. Even at meal times I would study (while eating of course). So by the time Tuesday night rolled around, I was prepared and pumped for that final exam.
As my history teacher handed out the papers, I closed my eyes and said one last prayer, silently, and began my test. At the end of the period I was so sure I had messed up on at least ten of the questions, due to my not being able to remember what I studied. I hoped on the school bus that day so miserable and depressed knowing that I had done terribly. But I was in for the biggest shock of my life.
The following month my teacher handed back the papers and when I received mine, face down, I knew there was no turning back, I had to except the grade I received. So I turned it over and to my surprise what I saw stareing boldly at me wasn’t an F, or a D , or a C, not even a B but an A. I was flabbergasted; so stunned that no words would leave my mouth.
God works in mysterious ways. But the one thing about Him that will always be clear as glass is his eternal love for mankind. I truly believe that if you take the time to ask God for your most precious wants and needs, he will give them to you. After all, “God helps those who help themselves.”
option 2
"A penny saved is a penny earned"
This journal really took some thought, but I got the idea from some of the other posts. Frugality is something that really makes one think, and is very hard to conquer. So, I asked my dad about who this aphorism would apply too. His answer was obvious and i was baffled that i hadn't thought of it myself. My dad's buddy Mike is a cheapster i guess you could say, but thats not the whole story. Kels (Mike's nickname) is a man who is generous beyond measure. He saves money when it is not necessary to spend money, but always uses his money wisely. He's a man that you could never catch in a pair of designer jeans or an $1,000 suit, he's perfectly happy with a pair of old baggy sweatpants. He won't live in a mansion, but would be happy to but a concert ticket for you, just because he wants to enjoy your company. In my eyes his basic philosophy is to spend wisely, and only on the things that you really care about. He will spend money on his family and friends, but spending on himself is always an after thought. Kels is the epitome of the saying that, "a penny saved is a penny earned," because every penny he does not employ on himself he can use it for those who are closest to his heart. With Franklin's sayings, I think you have to be very careful not to miss the underlying meaning that they hold. Sure, they sound like catch phrases that your mom has told you since age 3, but they really have a deeper meaning in the real world. My dad's buddy really exemplifies the kindness and generosity factor that plays into franklin's sayings.
MD GREEN
I have trouble keeping order too, just like Franklin. I am a big procrastinator, so I try to make plans for myself to get my work done. Like in the summer for instance, I don’t like to have to worry about reading my summer reading books at the end of summer, so I make plans for myself to get them done early. I usually like to read two chapters a day, every day until the book is over. If it is really long, like The Grapes of Wrath, then I give myself Sundays off. Then I like to take like a week break before I start my next book. Sometimes I will read a book that I want to read during my break week. Also, I will sometimes save one of the books for my camping trip that I take every summer. We go for a week, and it is just so peaceful that I can get so much reading done. This summer I read Martian Chronicles there. Everyone told me it was a bad book, so I thought I would need the whole week to read it, but it was really good and really short. I finished it in three days. I didn’t bring any other books to read though, so I bought one at a Wal*mart. Usually the overall schedule will get a little messed up because I will be somewhere that I don’t have my book, or I will just have so much to do that day that I don’t have the time to read. This past summer worked fairly well though. The Grapes of Wrath took a little longer than planned but I finished it fairly quickly. In the last few weeks of summer my friends were hurrying to read their books, and I was done. I got to relax when they were worried they wouldn’t finish. It was amazing!
I'll go with option C.
I've been horseback riding my entire life, and I've always known that I want to have a career with horses. I used to think that I would like to be a vet, but after considering my sever phobia of needles and sqeemishness, I recently decided that this idea would not work out. So now I'm deadset on becoming a horse trainer.
There are two main parts in my plan to achieve my goal of becoming a horse trainer. The first is to become as good a rider as I can. To do this I'm riding as often as I can, and atleast twice a week. In the summer, I'll be a working student at my stable. I'm also working towards my short-term goal of riding in horse trials. I'll be competing in my first one with my new trainer this weekend(Nov. 4th).
The secong part of my plan is to get good grades. This is so that I can go to a college with a good equestrian studies program, which will make my chances of becoming a successful horse trainer much higher. To do this I'm mainly just trying to stay focused. My biggest problem with grades in the past was getting my homework done, so now I make a point of doing homework after I get home from school. Which is working pretty well so far, I haven't had better grades than I have now since 6th grade.
Option C please!
Just as Ben Franklin had dedicated himself to making himself a better person, so have I. As Franklin probably thought, I thought that if I wrote down all my thoughts, then i could fix them one by one and become a better person. I was very wrong. However, my inspiration to make a list of my faults was not Ben Franklin, it was the steps from the group Alateen, of which I am a member. A couple of the steps made reference to admitting to yourself what was your own faults (instead of everyone else's fautls), and making amends to the people you've hurt. It was after I'd written my list and started to eliminate my faults, that I realized that this was way harder than it seemed or I'd expected. There were so many grey areas where something I've done could be good or bad, but it all depended on the situation, or someone's opinion on what I've done. I also found that with each fault that I'd work on, another one would present itself, and be added to the bottom of my long list. After I'd made amends to the friends whom I'd wronged, I decided that it would be easier as well as more beneficial to work on myself as a whole, than to work on myself fault by fault. i am continuing with that even today. I admire Ben Franklin for being able to dedicate himself to working on one out of thirteen vitrues each week to make himself a better person, although I think he's an extraordinary person as he was.
mbgreen
My parents represent Ben Franklin's virtue of being orderly. Every thing has to have its place and has to be neat. Everything my mom owns, is organized. It is either in a box, on a shelf, or in a bag. My dad is the same way. If he sees one spec of dirt he would probably vacuum the whole house. Not that it is a bad thing but I have a lot of difficulty with it, thus confrontation erupts. I never put things back where they are supposed to be, and everything I own is always sprawled out on the desk in my room. My parents have probably been nagging me about my room for the past 5 years (ha-ha). My parents yell at me all the time for this, but once I clean my room it will probably be messy within the next hour or two. Don’t get me wrong having order is a good quality to have. It just doesn’t help you keep your room clean; it can help you achieve the daily obstacles of life. Every one needs some order in their life. Fortunately my room is clean at the moment, and I hope it will be for a long time.
Ben Franklin's aporims have been silly little reminders to help people live their ways. This appiles to my famliy greatly. The term a penny saved a penny earned means a lot to my family and I. My Family has a jar of change in a closet and nobody must ever take money from it. This is because this is a jar that my parents have use to get money for spending money for vactions. So one day i happen not to have lunch money, so i deciede to look in the jar and i saw two dollar bills, so i dump everything and got them. In my hurry to get them i noticed that i had taken me 10mins to get the money. i waited for my mo to come home and before getting a "Hi how was your day" she hears " Why in the worldis it so difficult to get money out of that jar. My mom hears this and laughs a little and say it is supposed to be hard that way you dont get any money, so that we save some money. So after this i wonder if Ben wanted to say a penny lock in a jar is a penny saved.
Option B; "When the well is dry; we then know the worth of water."
As a little kid, I obviously had friends that i saw everyday. They were the best, but I was to young to understand how much my friends really meant to me. As time past, my parents thought more and more about moving. The day I had to leave my friends was about the worst thing I had to do in third grade. I never understood how much I was going to miss them until the day I left. It was so hard to say goodbye and I missed them to death.
When I moved into my new house I met so many new friends, yet again I was still to young to understand how much my friends meant to me. I didn't learn my lesson on how much I should cherish every moment. Little did I know that in 6th grade I would be moving again. This time I moved again and made little friends.
Middle school was rough without the friends I had grown up with, but I made it through. I knew I would be sticking with my friends here for a while. Of course half way through 9th grade I had to leave them all again.
It took over three times, but I have finally learned how much my friends mean to me. How much I should never take for granite any moment I have with them. I always knew how special they were to me, I just never thought I'd have to leave so many friends so many times, so I never was prepared. Just as Ben says "When the well is dry; we then know the worth of water", "When I have to leave; I then know the value of a friendship". I will now always be prepared and always value every moment I have with any friend of mine.
Ben Franklin was a brilliant man. He has made many clever comments and aphorisms throughout his life. I can relate to a couple of these aphorisms and concepts. The one that I like best is his saying of picking the weeds out of a garden one at a time. I have a very complex life. I have school five days a week. I get up at 6 o’clock a.m. go to school, and come home around 3:30 p.m. I work at McDonald’s, usually two nights a week, from four until ten. Assuming I have no homework, I go to sleep around midnight. I also have to get up early on the weekends to work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. My greatest love in the world is basketball. I got cut last year, mainly because I was too shy to stand out. But I know that talent-wise I am good enough to play at the varsity level. If I have no homework, no work, and no added chores, I practice basketball. This usually means hitting the courts for as long as the sun shines. My routine also includes lifting and running. All this make the garden look very weedy and the thought of getting it all done overwhelming.
I started off the year pretty bad in terms of managing my time. I couldn’t find balance until I took it one step at a time, picking one weed at a time. I am starting to regain my composure. I have a plan to take my upcoming months one weed at a time. I have found a decent study plan. I study each of the subjects that I call memorization subjects, such as history, biology, theology, Spanish, and this historical version of English, for fifteen minutes each. Math is my best subject and is pure theory, so there is less need to study. My managers at my job will let you take off for conflicting schedules. If I get cut from St. Mark’s basketball again, I will try out for AAU. If that doesn’t work, I will take a break from basketball until I am in full control of school and work. Meanwhile, I will keep lifting, hoping to get bigger for junior year.
If I pick the weeds one at a time, as Benjamin Franklin says I can handle the whole job a cleaning up the garden and I can accomplish all the things a need to do and those I want to do. From the garden to the court this is a way get the work done. Let’s just say school won the opening tip and scored first. But, I am now getting the ball at the start of the second and third quarter. Sure, school will start the fourth quarter with the ball, but hopefully by then I will be like Kobe, who has already scored over fifty points and would eventually continue on to score eighty-one points.
I picked option B. I can totally relate with Ben Franklin and say that fish and vistors go stale in three days. Well of course fish go stale because when you leave them out their toxic start to come out and stink the place up. I'm not a fisherman so i really do not have more to say about this, but the vistor part I do. As much as I love my family more than anything there's nothing more I do not look forward to the anual family get together. I love seeing them, but a day is good enough for me. My family comes bunks at my house and is all into my stuff. It is called my stuff because its mine so please do not touch it. Of course granny has to go searching through everything and sometimes I feel like it is just to embrass me. Then there is the cousin who of course are 7 years younger than you have to be into everything and think that you are the world dictionary, when you really just want two seconds of peace and quite. Next is my own mom who has to tell the whole family horrbily embrassing stories about what happened to me during the year. I love seeing my family, but once they get off that plane I want to send them back on it.
I’ve decided to go with option A. My grandfather is extremely frugal, i would say that he can definitely afford not to be. To start off, he has been wearing the same 12$ k-mart jeans for years. And how could I forget his brown belt also. I’m almost positive that I’ve never seen him wear anything else, with an exception of dress/church pants. He has about three plaid, flannel shirts that he has had since he was young. He refuses to buy a computer and claims that they’re a waste of time, life, and money. I guess part of this whole thing is that he used to be an accountant. He has a book that he keeps track of EVERYTHING that he has ever spent money on. I don’t know how he does it. I occasionally look through it, just out of interest. It’s pretty cool to see what he bought on let’s say, the day I was born, or how much a slice of pizza and a stick of gum cost in the 1940’s. He grew up during World War II and everything was very limited then. I guess it just stuck with him all throughout his life. Let’s just say that I could definitely learn a few things from him about managing my money.
"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of."
Ahh, Camp Tockwogh. Two weeks in the summer filled with friends, laughter, and fun. To me, it is one of the most magical places on Earth. I know, that sounds a little exaggerated, but it's 100% true. I have made many friends there that I still talk to. I learned things there that I use all the time. I went for 5 summers, and loved every one, but just realized how much it meant to me when I had to leave it.
The first couple summers are a little blurry, but they were fun. Nights staying up past curfew, sitting in front of a campfire, and being with friends. Those summers were wonderful, but I didnt really enjoy it as much as I should have.
The last two summers are crystal-clear, which only makes them easier to miss. Basically, I had a great time, but, as I acted during the first two summers, I squandered my time at Tockwogh by allowing myself to become bored at times when there was better stuff I could be doing, but I still had a great time.
I only realized that I had wasted time at Tockwogh when it was the last night. I was having so much fun and it hit me. It was my last summer at Tockwogh. I started talking to my friends about it. We stayed up talking for what seemed like 10 minutes, but I don't think I went to bed that night. The next day, though, I spent it wisely. I savored every minute of it and it was amazing. I still miss Tockwogh. It was definitely a life-changing experience for me.
Option B: "Fish and visitors smell in 3 days."
This is really more of a compilation of stories over anything, of how things usually happen when my friends will spend a night at my house. Now don't get me wrong, I do like my friends, it's just that they have a tendency to stay over much longer than they should. I don't know how it happens either. I usually well in advance that they need to leave relatively early, yet, my friends somehow manage to spend more than half the day with me doing nothing. Not only that, but they also have bad habits whenever they're over my house. They'll eat all my food, play the piano in my house loudly when people are trying to do work, run around on the first floor of my house. I also feel sorry for my mother, who for some reason always stays in her room when my friends come over. I guess that she's either afraid of us, or she just doesn't want to get in our way. Either way, I still feel sorry for her. Overall, though there isn't much I can do about my these occurances. After all, friendship does come at a price.
Option A.
My Uncle is the exact opposite of temperence. Whenever we go out to dinner, say Olive Garden, he always gets a box to take home the left over salad, bread, appetizer, and whatever he had for dinner. Let's just say he loves to eat until he can't anymore.
option B: A Penny Saved is a penny earned.
This aphorism applies perfectly to me. I love saving my money. Currently, I am trying to save up to buy a car. I have been mowing lawns all summer to reach my goal. For every grass I cut, I keep half of my earnings for myself and put the other half in the bank. It has been working out well for me, I almost have enough for a decent car. Now if only I could get a job to afford gas money.
My sister, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of the saying. She once got a dollar from my grandmother for doing well at her track meet. Withing 20 minutes, she had spent it on ice cream. Now to my story. A few weeks ago, my sister came home with a bag from a shoe store. She just got new shoes about a week earlier, so I knew these had to be hers that she bought. I asked her " Where did you get the money to buy shoes?" She said " I just saved up." This puzzled me, because why would she spend money on shoes when she had a brand-new pair? She said that she bought them because she wanted to. And that, my friends, is my story of saving money for something important.
I have chosen to write based upon option C. I have never been someone who was good at making plans for the future and following them. On many occasions I have attempted to set up plans for how to run my life at home trying to balance homework, fun, and friends at the same time. Never has this worked out like I had hoped. On many occasions I have tried to write my own version of the "Great American Novel". However, once again, I find myself not being able to keep a regular schedule. Many unfinished works lay in my home. I have tried to lay plans so that I might get all of my work done on time, but always let myself down. I am very different from Franklin it seems. However, though I have failed many times before I think that I have now come up with a plan which will allow me to finish my book and still have time for all of my friends. Although my book may not be accepted in society and may not even be published, this is a task I need to achieve to prove to myself that I can do it. In my attempts to achieve this goal I think that perhaps it would be a good idea to try some of Franklin's ideas. This way maybe I could see where I have let myself down on the week and work to improve it.
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