January 2006 | Online Edition
Celebrating Benjamin Franklin's 300th Birthday;
One of America's Greatest Leaders
by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Writing under the alias “R. Saunders” in 1733, Benjamin Franklin addressed his audience with the first edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack.
“Courteous Reader,” he began, “I might in this place attempt to gain thy Favour, by declaring that I write Almanacks with no other View than that of the publick Good; but in this I should not be sincere; and Men are no a-days too wise to be deceiv’d by Pretences how specious soever.”
But there was more, and the words that follow might ring close to 21st century households. “The plain Truth of the Matter is,” he continued, “I am excessively poor, and my Wife, good Woman, is, I tell her, excessively proud; she cannot bear, she says, to sit spinning in her Shift of Tow, while I do nothing but gaze at the Stars; and has threatened more than once to burn all my Books and Rattling-traps (as she calls my Instruments) if I do not make some profitable Use of them for the good of my Family. The Printer has offer’d me some considerable share of the Profits, and I have thus begun to comply with my Dame’s desire.”
Those opening words inaugurated a legacy and literary tradition that spans the centuries, a legacy that Franklin himself would perhaps not have foreseen, though one that would have surely caused him some amusement and humility were he among us in 2005.
In an era when there just aren’t seemingly enough “how-to-live-a-better-life” books or TV talk shows of the same genre, Franklin’s maxims and advisories were well ahead of their time and as enduring as the American Republic he helped found in 1776.
In a salute to the upcoming 300th anniversary of the birthday of Benjamin Franklin on January 17, 2006, the Hawaii Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is pleased to furnish our 21st century neighbors and friends a sampling of poignant missives in the weeks and months ahead selected from Poor Richard’s Almanack. On each of those occasions thirteen will be provided in commemoration of the thirteen original states of the United States of America.
Our hope, as one we share with Dr. Franklin, is to provide choice mental morsels and aphoristic particularities reflecting what he called the “Wisdom of many Ages and Nations.”
True, not all of these were originated by Franklin. But as a product of American revolutionary foresight, vision, as well as Age of
Enlightenment wisdom and reason, Franklin succeeded in bringing to generations of readers what Paul Leicester Ford correctly observed were wise words “ting’d with that Mother Wit, which so strongly and individually marks so Much that he said and wrote.”
• Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad habits.
• Industry, Perseverance, & Frugality, make Fortune yield.
• Tomorrow I’ll reform, the fool does say; To-day itself’s too late; -the wise did yesterday.
• Half Wits talk much but say little.
• ‘Tis easy to see, hard to foresee.
• An open foe may prove a curse; but a pretended friend is worse.
• Who is rich? He that rejoices in his Portion.
• It is ill-manners to silence a Fool, and Cruelty to let him go on.
• Idleness is the Dead Sea, that swallows all Virtues: Be active in Business, that Temptation may miss her aim; the Bird that sits, is easily shot.
• Drive thy business, or it will drive thee.
• As Pride increases, Fortune declines.
• The most exquisite Folly is made of Wisdom spun too fine.
• A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things.
The Hawaii Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is a branch of the Sons of the American Revolution (www.sar.org), the nation’s oldest veterans organization and whose mission is to perpetuate their memory and history of their involvement in the American Revolution. The Hawaii Society web site is at http://www.hawaiisar.org Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday is on January 17, 2006. To learn more about the upcoming tercentenary of Benjamin Franklin’s birthday go to http://www.benfranklin300.org.
|
