Sophs #4 YELLOW journal--Be Like Ben [Franklin, of course]
An older and wiser man writing his autobiography, Dr. Benjamin Franklin gave to the world his prescription for achieving "the bold and arduous task of moral perfection": list 13 virtues you wish to master, work on only one per week (like eradicating weeds from one flower bed at a time, he said), examine your day each evening to see if you had committed any actions 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). Sounds simple enough, right? About as easy and American as apple pie.
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 should (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. Check out the "talking Ben" by clicking here.
C. Relate in detail some orderly plan that you contrived in order to achieve some goal.
As Ben would have said, "Do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.
POST BEFORE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16
posted by JTF @ 2:33 PM
37 comments
37 Comments:
Ben Franklin was a very wise man that taught 13 very important virtues that each person should try achieve at. These 13 great virtues are industry, silence, tranquility, frugality, temperance, cleanliness, moderation, order, resolution, sincerity, justice, chastitty, and humility. I know one of these virtues that my family truly lives by, and that is the virtue of industry. About 7 or 8 years ago my parents decided to move out of my old house and into a new one that my father was building. My father is a carpenter and is very talented, he loves to work and is always trying to build something new. While the house was being built our whole family would show up and all try to help out with building our new house. The house was very amazing and my dad still lives in it today. It took many many hours of hard labor by my father and the help of our whole family. If we wernt working on it we would help support him by bringing him food and drinks and just providing him with company. The house finally finished and it truly was a beatiful place for our whole family to live in. I would like to say that my family is very industrious and we are always working on something different or looking for something different to do.
Like Ben Franklin, I have many goals that I try to accomplish in my life. One was becoming a lifeguard over summer. First, my pool required me to take a CPR/AED class. It was two days long for 5 hours each day. At the end there was a hard test that you had to pass in order to get your CPR certification. I studied hard the night before the test and my hard efforts paid off, I passed! After that I had to take the actual lifeguarding class where they taught me how to rescue people. I knew in advance that you have to swim twelve laps without stopping and drag up a ten pound weight from the bottom of the pool in order to pass the course. I’m not on swim team so I knew it wouldn’t be easy. My sister took me to the Hockessin Athletic Club a couple of times to practice my laps and eventually I could do it. The day of the lifeguarding class I got in the pool and I swam the laps with no problem. I got my official lifeguard certification that day and I was then hired by my boss! All of my hard work paid off.
Of Ben Franklin’s 13 virtues, the one that stood out was silence. He described it as, “Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.” I’ve always been a bit quiet. When I was little, I was quite shy. I remember sitting quietly in class as the other kids would be yelled at for continual talking. How much can someone talk? I was bewildered as to why people felt the need to drone on about insignificant things that wouldn’t matter by tomorrow. I usually would not say anything unless it held importance, or made someone laugh. As Franklin said, “Speech is silver, silence is golden.” I suppose that by being quiet, I became more observant and a lot more intrigued by what was happening around me. I found an escape from the boredom I endured by peoples’ constant blabbering. I was, and still am, a quieter person. I’ve always felt that constant talking could be a sign of insecurity. I figure that talking, just to talk is a complete waste of time. Being quiet, however, doesn’t mean that I don’t care; it means that topics shouldn’t be abused, by drawing out the conversation. This has made me an open-minded person, because I am able to hear both sides before making a decision. I understand the value of silence.
“Fish and visitors smell after 3 days.” This aphorism of Benjamin Franklin relates to a particular story in my life. This year, my cousin Gabriel came to live with my family for the whole summer. He is from Tuscan, Arizona, and he was visiting our whole family by himself. Because he was raised in a different household than I, his habits and activities were a little different than I was used to. It got a little annoying after the first week or so. I am not accustom to another kid so close in age to me living with me for such a long time; I felt almost as if my dad and step-mom were testing my patience. He would do things that were strange to my usual ways of behavior. Sometimes he would start singing really loud in the backseat of my car with the windows rolled down. He would also take 45 minute long showers. When I would have friends over, he would go upstairs to “freshen up,” including ironing his shirt and putting on MY body spray. He often would be sitting next to me, and he would text me instead of talking to me face to face. Some of these things he did just got on my nerves after being with him for such a long time. I’m sure if I had gone to live with his family there would have been annoying habits of my own that would have bothered him too. Benjamin Franklin’s aphorism is very insightful because I have experienced it firsthand. All friends and family are great in small doses.
Like Benjamin Franklin, I have many goals that I strive to achieve. One of those goals was to make myself a better football player over the summer to exceed my limits when the season came. I knew it would be difficult because I had to gain close to 15 pounds to be big enough and also because our team made it to the championships last year. My plan started in the beginning of summer when the weight lifting and running program started with the football team. I also made the summer league 7 on 7 team along with the other skills on the football team. Skills are the quicker guys on the team. So getting a chance to play with the varsity players gave me an opportunity to show the head coach my skill and talents on the football field. I ended up doing really well in the summer league and getting a name for myself which lead to me being a varsity back up defensive back. I also gained the weight I needed to be able to perform on the field thanks to my hard work and effort in the weight room. This past summer definitely improved my football skills and just like Benjamin Franklin, I did everything in my power to achieve my goal and I did what I had to do to be a better football player and also a better person.
Benjamin Franklin was a very wise man. His 13 virtues eventually become important models to the general public. Like Ben Franklin set aside rules to help him achieve an ultimate goal, I too set aside certain rules to help me achieve something that I may need to put more effort into. An example would be balancing sports or friends with school. By setting aside certain standards it helped me have fun with friends and do things that I enjoyed doing while being good student and getting good grades. First, before making plans to do anything I have to make sure I don't have any important tests or quizzes the next day. If I am good than I tell myself that I can't do anything until my homework is done and I take my time with it. Being organized, like Ben Franklin also noted, is very important because by being organized I can be more aware of things that I have to do and put time a certain amount of time into. By maintaining good grades than I am able to do things that I want to do and enjoy myself. However, a sign of maturity and wisdom is knowing when you need to take a break and put more effort into more important things.
Though Benjamin Franklin and I had both very different ideas on what we need to accomplish and a very different plan, we both used a step-by-step process to achieve what we wanted to accomplish. My plan was to concur my bad habit of procrastination and planned on doing so in less than a month. Procrastination affects most young people in the world, and by removing it from my life, I can remove most of the emotional stress. Everyday, I wrote down the activities that I needed to accomplish throughout the day. Once I accomplished this item, I checked it off and wrote the time down on the piece of paper next to the activity. I attempted to get all my work done earlier than the day before. Usually, by the last week of the month, my time when I finished all my work stays pretty constant. I do this every other month, and it is working very well for me.
Ben Franklin was a great man, he helped to improve the lives of many people and improve many things in the world. He had 13 virtues to make his life perfect. These virtues are industry, silence, tranquility, frugality, temperence, cleanliness, moderation, order, sincerity, chastitty, resolution, and humility. I feel that I live by one of these virtues in my own way. This virtue is moderation. When I was younger, about 6 or 7, I thought that everything that I did had to be perfect and I had to go into way too much depth on it to make it perfect and keep working until it is perfect or even longer. But then one day my uncle taught me that some things in life can be left imperfect and that I should moderate everything that I do to a certain extent and not go insane over it. I dont know why but this just meant something to me. So ever since that day I have strived to moderate some things and just leave them the way the are.
Ben Franklin was a very smart person, and he believed if you could master 13 virtues you could be a “perfect” person. To master those virtues he made a plan in which he would practice one virtue for a week for 13 weeks. I also made a similar plan in 8th grade. I was pretty unorganized in 8th grade and my mom and dad wanted me to get more organized because they thought it would help my grades. So I deciced every week I would just try to get one class organized, I had 5 classes so I thought it would take 5 weeks. The first week went well, but I ran into some problems in my 2nd week. Although I was getting another class organized,, the class I had worked on before was becoming un organized. So I realized that I still was not able to balance all my classes. So I tried to just work on all my classes at once, and that was a disaster. And during my whole plan my grades went down, so I realized that tring to get organized would just lower my grades. So now im pretty unorganized but it doesn’t really effect my grades.
Ben Franklin in his lifetime tried to be the best man he could. He did this by following 13 virtues. The on that is most important to me is the virtue of sincerity. I have a younger brother and sister and we always get in fights. We try not to go into an argument that will lead to yelling or end with everyone angry at one another but, there are a few that end up like that. My dad always listens to what we say before he says something. He hears each side of the story before he says what he wants to say. At the end, he asks why we fight over the stupidest things and that we should say nice things about your brother or sister. Then, if the fight were bad, he would give one of us a punishment or lecture to straighten us out. We try to do the things he said in his lecture when another fight breaks out. He said just to ignore him or her and just continue what you are doing and if they still bother you just go to your room. After many years of the lecturing, it finally got into my head to do what is right and sincere to others.
Ben Franklin followed 13 virtues in his quest for moral perfection. To help him follow these virtues he only practiced one per week because it would be easier than doing them all at once. When I first started my freshman year in high school I had to do certain things to help keep my grades up. Before I came to St. Marks I attended public school and this was a big change. To keep my grades up I had to study harder, be more organized, and not do things at the last minute. Unlike Ben Franklin I worked at doing all of these things at the same time. Every night when I came home I would organize all my school papers into different groups for each class and I would keep everything in one folder so I wouldn’t lose anything. I also studied for a lot longer than I did before so I would do better on my schoolwork. I was also used to doing everything at the last minute but I learned quickly that I couldn’t do that anymore. I believe anyone can achieve their goals if they have the determination and they work hard enough.
I, like Ben Franklin, like to keep my life pretty orderly. You see I had this great plan how i was going to work my but off all summer so I could make a name for myself on the football team. I worked so hard, gained 20 lbs and got alot faster. I tought for sure the coach's would see I was working hard, however when the depth chart finally came out i was like 6th string...I didn't even know there was a 6th string! Things just went down hill from there, an hour into the very first practice I broke my finger. Luckily I have 9 other fingers and could keep practicing but it made catching the ball alot harder. I gradually started to move up in the depth chart and for the first few games I did'nt play at all but then a few players got injured and suddenly I was a starter. I was so nervous but I focused and got through the game with minimal mistakes. Now every week I make a plan to work on one aspect of my game at a time, slowly getting better and proving to my coach that I want to play. This past summer definitely improved my gtame and just like Benjamin Franklin, I did everything I could to achieve my goals.I did what I had to do to be a better football player and I think not giving up relates to ben Franklin
Benjamin Franklin noted thirteen virtues that he thought every human should abide by. The virtues were ranked based on importance, tranquility being virtue number eleven. Although tranquility is toward the end of Franklin’s list, I feel it is very important in lives of all ages, especially teenagers. Teenagers socialize and consistently gossip about the new “drama” of the week. Most if the times, teenagers over exaggerate stories that result in spreading false information. This can hurt a person’s feelings and make them uncomfortable. However, if adolescents practice the virtue of tranquility, they will be at a state of peace and quietness instead of making a big deal out of something minor. I will strive to achieve tranquility by thinking before I speak and stopping others from saying hurtful things about their peers. In addition, when I am upset I will attempt to address my problem in a calm and tranquil manner. I also think it is incredibly important for adults to practice tranquility in their lives. With tranquility, there would be less road rage and accidents because drivers would be relaxed and calm, resulting in safe travels from the starting point to the destination. Parents would also have more quality time with their children. When parents yell at their children, it challenges their relationship. However, if parents and their children tranquilly resolve issues, their relationship would grow stronger and more points will be heard and addressed. Negative energy spreads much faster than positive energy does. With more people at a tranquil state of mind, people will be more friendly, happy, and stable, which helps to a safer world.
Silence. This is one of Benjamin Franklin’s thirteen virtues. It shows that he knew the right time and place to speak. In a way, this reminds me of my father, who will strike up a conversation with anyone. This is not so bad in some situations, but in others, it can really become annoying. If you are about to leave a party, pretty much out the door, you can bet that you’ll be there another ten minutes if he gets talking. Most times, the conversations that my dad gets involved in are exactly what Franklin spoke out against, trifling conversation. In most cases, Franklin’s rule of silence would speed up any process with most men, but in others, it is good to sit down and just talk with someone about basically nothing. It is good for a person to just relax and talk about the local football team, how the family is, or their experiences. Franklin had the right idea about silence possibly for his generation, but in today’s age people will talk to others just to talk about something.
Ben Franklin worked hard every day to achieve his goals. Last spring track season, I injured my back, and I was out for the rest of the season. It was a major setback, and it took me a while to get back up to where I was before I got injured. Halfway through the summer, I got a little lazy with running, and I didn’t run as many miles as I was supposed to over the summer. This is something Ben Franklin would not have done. I have learned from this experience. When cross-country season started, I was running the same pace I was last year. Next summer, I want to not get lazy and run all my miles so I can get better. Like Ben Franklin did, I want to strive to get better and achieve my goals and not give up halfway through.
Ben Franklin worked hard every day to achieve his goals. Last spring track season, I injured my back, and I was out for the rest of the season. It was a major setback, and it took me a while to get back up to where I was before I got injured. Halfway through the summer, I got a little lazy with running, and I didn’t run as many miles as I was supposed to over the summer. This is something Ben Franklin would not have done. I have learned from this experience. When cross-country season started, I was running the same pace I was last year. Next summer, I want to not get lazy and run all my miles so I can get better. Like Ben Franklin did, I want to strive to get better and achieve my goals and not give up halfway through.
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” This aphorism can be taken at face value in the sense that it is saying the only way to keep a secret is for the secret to not be told. At first glance you may think to yourself that this aphorism is not true because you have someone that you can trust with almost everything. But if you sit there and think, I can almost guarantee you can think of a time where you trusted someone or some people with a secret that you didn’t want other people to find out but they did anyway. For example, I remember back in middle school when a close friend came to me about a very personal problem that she wanted to keep a “secret”. So she proceeded to tell me all in confidentiality and by the tears in her eyes I knew that it was not a joke and she really didn’t want anyone else to know whatsoever. But then she messed up instead of just keeping it between us she told another friend whom accidentally told someone else who told someone else until our entire group had heard about her secret. I believe that is a perfect situation to fit Ben Franklin’s aphorism: “Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”
Ben Franklin was an amazing man, he was amazing in every way. He excelled in everything he did, because he felt that time was precious, and to use it to the fullest. That trait is exemplified in my father. He is always working on something, rarely does he sit around and do nothing. He actually tells me that "time is precious, don't waste it." Whether it be working until 12 midnight, knowing he has to get up again for work the next day, or going to baseball games with his friends on the weekends, he is never not doing something. I guess it could be said that he has the strive that Ben Franklin had. Ben Franklin wanted to be good at everything, not just specialize in one. My father is the same in that respect also. He loves science, in fact, his first job was in a scientific lab, until he got moved to management. But he doesn't just care about science, he also is a huge history buff. Ask him almost anything about history, and he will know it. Ben Franklin had amazing quality's in him, so does my father.
Benjamin Franklin had a very organized way of trying to reach his goal of moral perfection. Any goal that is trying to be reached involves steps that you’ll take to achieve it. Like Benjamin Franklin, I had a goal. Last year, my goal was to make it through the year with straight A’s, so that I could be exempt from all my finals. Goals aren’t usually easy, and I can tell you that this one wasn’t! The first step I took was making sure I wrote down all my homework and tests in my planner. I was always forgetting homework assignments, books to take home, test dates, and project due dates. I had to make sure that every day I wrote down everything that was needed. After that step, I had to make sure that when I got home, I had to get right to homework instead of procrastinating. This was definitely my hardest step because I always find myself procrastinating. After this step, I had to make sure that I spent a good amount of time on studying, instead of only studying the night before a test. Good sleep was another part of my goal because I always found myself staying up late studying, or talking with friends. Also, when I’m tired in school, I don’t pay a lot of attention, so good sleep helped a great deal in achieving my goal. Lastly, I had to balance my school work with my friends. This was another hard step because I love spending the weekends with friends. It was tough because I always found myself pushing homework and studying aside, so I could spend a lot of time with my friends. Although, all of my hard work paid off because I finished the year with straight A’s, and I didn’t have to study for any finals!
Most of the virtues by Benjamin Franklin are used in my household such as temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. All of these are represented through different stories in my life. One of the virtues that stick out to me is industry because we talk about this everyday at volleyball. In volleyball you have to be fast in order to get balls up. Since the game keeps getting faster as you grow up the defensive positions have to use the least amount of movement to get to a ball. Unnecessary actions cannot be made during a tough match or you will not be quick enough to get under balls. The part of industry that says “ be always employed in something useful” represents how every movement you make needs to be positive. By saying positive, I mean moving towards the ball. Useless movement such as falling over or jerking is unnecessary and makes the ball travel or fall where you do not want it to be. In practice everyday, we practice industry by trying to get quicker and to cut out all the unnecessary movements.
Like Benjamin Franklin, I have many goals in life, although in order to achieve my personal goal, I contrived a plan in order to achieve it. My personal goal was to make the St. Marks varsity soccer team. In order to reach this goal I had to work extremely over two thirds of the summer. First, I started running two miles a day to try to get into shape, although later in the summer, I reached five miles per day. In addition to running, I lifted weights, and did ab workouts. I would even do soccer drills in my back yard. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I had practice with my club team which really made me ready for preseason. When the big day finally came, I felt ready for all the running and physical tests, and all together a better soccer player. At the end of the preseason I found out that I made the varsity squad and that all my hard work at had paid off. Over the next two years I plan on doing the same routines over again to get ready for a tough and rigorous soccer season.
Just like Benjamin Franklin, there are many goals I would like to achieve. One of my biggest goals is to do better in school. This year I started to do my homework and all projects in a more timely manner. Last year as a freshman I thought school work wasn’t important so I rarely did my homework or studied for any tests. That was a big mistake on my part! If I just did my homework and studied more my grades would have been a lot better. It made me realize that if I want to get into a good college I would have to try harder and put more effort into my school work. Effort is the key to doing well in school. If you have a good mindset and try your best, you will have a better chance of doing well. So far this year I have been doing so much better! I’m striving to get honors this semester and I hope to do so. Sophomore and junior year is the most important because that is when colleges start looking at you. If you have bad grades it will give you a slim amount of options for college. I know all my hard work will pay off in the end.
Ben Franklin was a very important idealist and was on a quest to purify himself according to the 13 values he set out to live by. Frugality is the one that my parents try to stress to me most often in my daily life. My parents are constantly talking to me about saving money and putting it into my bank account so I will have it for later usage and I often have a hard time doing that because there are always interesting things to buy, but I feel like now that I am growing older I am starting to see the importance of being more economic about my money spending decisions. When I was younger my parents would put money I received from my birthday and Christmas into the bank and I wouldn't understand why, but I can see now why my parents made the decision to put my money into a place where I couldn't access.I feel as if my parent's influence on my decisions to spend money will pay off one day.
Benjamin Franklin is a very wise and inspirational historical figure. Of all the different skills Franklin had, he helped change people’s life for the better in his Autobiography. In this writing, Benjamin presents thirteen virtues that should make a person “morally perfect.” These virtues are temperance, silence, order, resolution frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. Of Benjamin’s virtues, I try to always be as sincere as possible. I try to avoid talking about people and spreading false rumors. Also I think it’s very important to always be fair and kind to those surrounding you; being nice is a quality that everyone should have. I also am very good at keeping order. I’m usually always organized and have my things all together. Another virtues that I try to live by is resolution because whenever I do something, I try to do it to my fullest. I put all my effort into what I want until I get it. Out of Franklin’s thirteen virtues, I think that sincerity, order, and resolution are the most important.
Ben Franklin taught many people how to live there life and he was a great person to look up to. He was always striving to be perfect. He said that there are 13 virtues that everybody should keep in their life. One of these virtues is industry. My family has a story in their past that shows industry. About forty-two years ago my Pop-Pop bought property in Maine on a lake and then built a cabin on it. Our whole family uses it to go on vacation every summer and we have many memories there. Everybody loves it there because the weather is great and you always have a good time. The lot was very cheap when we bought it and it is probably around 300,000 dollars more now then when we bought it and made a cabin on it. It took a lot of hard work but we have gotten many years of enjoyment out of it and many years to come. I can’t wait till we go up next and have a great time. This is how my family has used industry as one of our virtues.
Ben Franklin taught many people how to live there life and he was a great person to look up to. He was always striving to be perfect. He said that there are 13 virtues that everybody should keep in their life. One of these virtues is industry. My family has a story in their past that shows industry. About forty-two years ago my Pop-Pop bought property in Maine on a lake and then built a cabin on it. Our whole family uses it to go on vacation every summer and we have many memories there. Everybody loves it there because the weather is great and you always have a good time. The lot was very cheap when we bought it and it is probably around 300,000 dollars more now then when we bought it and made a cabin on it. It took a lot of hard work but we have gotten many years of enjoyment out of it and many years to come. I can’t wait till we go up next and have a great time. This is how my family has used industry as one of our virtues.
As one as his 13 virtues, Ben Franklin taught the concept of tranqulity. Out of many things that I am is forgetful, and the tendency to loose things often. Whenever something trivial happens, I get very frustrated and angered at myself. Therefore, a few months ago I tried making a new plan to get my life more organized. First, I began to make lists. For the mornings, I laid out my clothes and packed my school bag remembering to ask my parents my schedule for the next day. I also have a tendency of over booking myself, so i bought a planner. I wrote all of my events down for as long as I can remember and it really helped me to be able to think ahead. I have tried to be more tranquil, as Franklin taught, but sometimes still get very frustrated at myself when i loose things, misplace them, or just do something wrong. It is still a work in progress but making a plan deffinatly helped!
"Fish and visitors smell after three days." Over the summer, my mom had my cousins stay with us while their parents went on a week long vacation to Cuba. My two boy cousins were pretty fun to hang with since I'm the only boy out of four kids. There were like brothers I never had. My parents was told by my aunt that her two boys wasn't the cleanest in the world, but my mom told her not to worry. My mom soon found out the hard way, just like the rest o my family. Everything went as planned. My dad took the whole family to the beach, water park, and a Phillies game all in the first couple of days. We often ate out because we had guests over the house. Now, this is when Benjamin Franklin's aphorism kicks in. My aunt knew here boys way to well because they definitely wasn't the cleanest in the world. As the fifth day rolls by, there was a stench in the house that nobody knew where it came from. We thought it was the trash can, but that wasn't it. It couldn't of been something someone cooked up because we ate out the whole week. So what could it have been? Like the fish, my visiting cousins were smelling after five days. They haven't been taking showers and rearing cloths that were sweaty from us playing outside. Nobody knew it was them because we thought they were old enough to take care of their personal hygiene. They got showered up and I got them some "fresh" clothes so we could enjoy their company for the last fews days without nose plugs.
Benjamin Franklin was a very smart person, and therefore he planned everything. One thing that he especially planned out carefully was how to live a morally perfect life. He planned out to live the 13 virtues of: industry, silence, tranquility, frugality, temperance, cleanliness, moderation, order, resolution, sincerity, justice, chastity, and humility. Just like Ben I have planned out how to do something, mine is much different though. I have made a plan for my Cross Country season this fall much like he did for his virtues. I made time goals that I had to get every meet and whenever I would miss the time I was going for I would do as much as possible to make up the difference in time the next meet. With this I also ate food accordingly to how far in the season I was. I also made sure to always take rest days when I really needed them. Without this orderly way I probably wouldn’t be getting any of my goals much like Ben wouldn’t have. When you go to set a goal you have to make a plan or orderly way of getting there or you’re just going to be trying and maybe get lucky.
Benjamin Franklin had many virtues he tried to achieve. He made sure that who achieved those virtues more than once. He kept achieving them so he was able to hit moral perfection. One of the virtues that my family and I follow is the virtue of silence. I believe that there are certain things that should be kept just for the family. Whether its grief, or something happy, I believe some aspects should stay between the family. I also believe that anything that can hurt others, such as if we disagree as a family on how someone acts, that we shouldn't make a big deal about it and tell others. By doing this, many people will be affected and then more chaotic events may occur. Therefore, I believe that every family holds secrets only they know. This honestly helps us grow in a way of trusting each other and always having someone to talk to when there's no one there. That's what our family is for right? A family who would always be there no matter what. In conclusion following these 13 virtues can help us become better people and grow close to each other.
Ben Franklin once said “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” I learned that this weekend when me and my friend went out to main street all night. We kept having small expenses such as a soda for a dollar and sixty cents or a donut for a dollar. These expenses added up but I did not realize this. In the morning when we were walking back to my house, we wanted to stop at McDonalds and buy some coffee. After we walked in, I opened my wallet and realized I had about twenty cents left. This came as a surprise considering we did not spend much money. However, we spend small amounts of money many times and because of it we ended up broke. “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” This saying may seem silly at first but if you think about it, or have had experiences similar to mine, you realize just how much truth it holds.
Ben Franklin tried to make himself as morally perfect as a man could be. He did so by making 13 virtues that he would follow. He didn’t try to live by all of them everyday, but one every week. The most important one to me would be sincerity. Sincerity basically means treat people how you want to be treated. Be nice to people and treat them with respect even if they don’t always treat you the same way. All families’ have that one relative that is very outspoken, too a point were it is just rude. For my family it is my aunt. I believe my whole family shows sincerity by not arguing with her on every word that comes out of her mouth. We take what she says as a grain of salt. We don’t try arguing with her because it would just lead to family problems and arguments. We all try to be nice to her no matter what she says. We know she means well, but doesn’t always show it. I believe we are showing my aunt sincerity. We are not being mean and hurting her feelings, even if sometimes she does it to us. We show her the same respect that we would like her to show us and by that we are showing Ben Franklins 7th virtue, sincerity.
Benjamin Franklin was a very wise man who chose virtues that he believed would make a man morally perfect. In Franklin’s quest for moral perfection he had to follow these thirteen virtues, but only focus on one per week. Two very important attributes that my family follows are those of silence and cleanliness. My family has always been very strict about following rules, which include not speak unless spoken to, have manners especially when company is over, and do what you are told. “Do not speak unless spoken to” refers to the virtue of silence and we would have to follow that to stay out of trouble and not get grounded. The attribute cleanliness has also been a rule in my family that must be followed or my mom would freak out and get really mad. Cleanliness includes washing your hands after using the bathroom, get a shower every day, your room has to be neat and orderly at all times. My mom freaks out about germs and has to keep the house as clean as possible. Referring to my sentence that says your room has to be neat and orderly is another virtue of Franklin’s. It is order, and it means balance. The world needs balance to stay sane. Otherwise, the world would be destroyed.
Fish and visitors
“Fish and visitors stink after three days” is one of Ben Franklin’s aphorisms. I can really relate to this aphorism because I have a big family that comes over often and likes to stay awhile.There was this one weekend we had most of my family staying over at our house. Because there were so many people, I had to fix up my room so that my aunt and uncle could stay in it. I didn’t mind it at all because since it was the weekend, I could still go to my room throughout the day as long as my aunt and uncle weren’t there. But, my aunt and uncle happened to live in New Jersey and since driving back and forth was such a hassle, they decided to stay a couple more days while everyone else left on Sunday. For the next few days I was without a room and I had to sleep in my parent’s room. Since it was still a school week, I had to get all the things I needed to get ready for school the night before because I couldn’t go back to my room in the morning since they would still be sleeping and I wouldn’t want to wake them up. So I got everything that I thought I needed, brought it to my parent’s room, and went to bed. The next morning I realized I had everything but my uniform for school! So I had to quietly go to my room and look for my clothes in the dark so that I wouldn’t wake them. I tried to make it quick but I ended up taking more time than I thought I would and ended up being late for school. And, on top of that, I got a demerit because I also forgot my homework in my room. From then on, I made sure that if we were to ever have guests over during the weekdays, that they would have to sleep in anyone else’s room but mine.
“Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead” is probably one of the most well known of Franklin’s aphorisms. It reminds me of the television show Pretty Little Liars. They are trying to keep a secret from many people including the police. But, when their friend is found dead things start to get weird when they start getting notes from her threatening to tell their secret. I think that Franklin’s aphorism is really well thought out because its saying that if you do not want anything to get out about you or someone else it is best just to keep it to yourself.
I strive for perfection, even though it is not possible, and I strive to always accomplish what I set out to do, just like Benjamin Franklin. Even though our goals may have been drastically different we both had the same approach to accomplish them. I really wanted to make the 8th grade basketball team but knew I needed to get better to make. So I put together a workout to help me get better. I would run 2-3 laps around the neighborhood and then practice dribbling with both hands for 1 hour. Then I would practice shooting for an hour. On the weekends I could spend a longer time shooting and dribbling. Also on the weekends I would go to the YMCA with my friend and play pick up games with whoever was there. I did this routine for a few months until tryouts came. I did really well because of all of my practice and I made the team and even started the first game of the season. I tried to better myself in basketball everyday and it paid off.
Ben Franklin was a smart man and he taught 13 important virtues.He said many famous aphorisms . like "an apple a day keeps the doctor away. the first time i heard of that aphorism was 9 years ago. my grandfather was a smart intelligent man and he always used to say things that i thought were absurd. then one day my grandmother wanted me to eat an apple for lunch when i was over there house.i refused and wanted to eat cake and ice cream instead! My grandfather just looked at me and said " A doctor a dad keeps the doctor away." i gave him a funny look and said "granddad thats silly" he explained to me that if i ate healthy and ate apples along with other fruits and vegetables id be healthier and that means alot less trips to the doctor. then it made more sense . i asked if i could have the apple and my grandparents just looked at me and smiled. Even though my grandfather died a couple years ago i still remember that like it was yesterday becuase at first i thought it was silly and then as he explained it to me i understood.Ben franklin's aphorisms i always rememeber because they seem silly but they're meanings are good.
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