|
Franklin: the enlightened American
Winnipeg Free Press
Saturday, February 4, 2006, p. a15
DALLAS HANSEN
Shortly before the new year, I attended my first public auction, where
my winning bid of $15 made me the owner of a collection of old books,
the contents of which were unknown to me at bidding. Among the gems in
my new collection was a 50-volume set of Harvard Classics, the first
book of which was the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, whose 300th
birthday on Jan. 6 was in tandem with my first efforts toward a
hopeless resolution to read the entire 50 volumes before year's end.
Even had Franklin not invented bifocals, swim fins, the Franklin stove
and the lightning rod; even had he not paved and lit Philadelphia's
streets and founded that city's public library, university and fire
department; even if he hadn't signed the Declaration of Independence,
he would have been remembered as a master of English prose, as an
anecdote from 1755, in which he warns an overconfident British general
of the dangers on the road through Iroquois country, demonstrates. The
heedless general, however, dismissed Franklin's advice:
"These savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your raw American
militia, but upon the king's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is
impossible that they should make any impression," Franklin quotes the
general as saying.
"I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing with a military man
in matters of his profession, and said no more."
Franklin's assessment proving correct -- over 700 of the general's
1,100 men were killed in a forest ambush -- he later opined: "This
whole transaction gave us Americans the first suspicion that our
exalted ideas of the prowess of British regulars had not been well
founded."
For those who, like myself, lack a keen interest in early American
history, Franklin's memoirs can be construed as the ultimate self-help
reader. Apprenticed to his brother, a Boston printer, at age 12,
Franklin at 17 ran away broke to Philadelphia to become a man of his
own making. There he found work with one of the city's two printers,
both of whom were, in Franklin's estimation, "poorly qualified for
their business." In the American spirit, Franklin resolved to go into
business on his own.
"Reading was the only amusement I allow'd myself. I spent no time in
taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in my business
continu'd as indefatigable as it was necessary."
His 13-step program for self-improvement came out of his identifying 13
cardinal virtues: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality,
industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility,
chastity and humility. Attached to each was a short precept expressly
defining the meaning. Silence, for example, was appended with the
precept, "Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid
trifling conversation." Or tranquility: "Be not disturbed at trifles,
or at accidents common or unavoidable." (These examples have been
particularly beneficial to me.) Franklin then drew a table with the 13
virtues running down and the seven days of the week running across.
Focusing upon one virtue at a time -- Week 1 would be temperance -- he
would review his conduct at the end of each day and mark with a black
dot "every fault I found upon examination to have been committed
respecting that virtue upon that day."
Week 2 would focus upon silence, and so forth, so that he would cover
all the 13 virtues thrice a year, eventually clearing his daily record
of any black spots.
Initiated into the Freemasons at 25, he became Grand Master of
Pennsylvania before 30, and later enjoyed the bacchanalian goings-on at
Sir Francis Dashwood's Hellfire Club headquarters. Franklin is also
known to have sired a number of illegitimate children. An anecdote from
his autobiography gives a glimpse of his caddish side. Visiting with
the wife of a friend who was indebted to him, he reminisces, "I grew
fond of her company, and, being at the time under no religious
restraint, and presuming upon my importance to her, I attempted
familiarities (another erratum) which she repuls'd with a proper
resentment, and acquainted him with my behaviour. This made a breach
between us; and... he let me know he thought I had cancell'd all
obligations he had been under to me." Then there is the question of the
human skeletons found beneath his London home in 1998, dated to the
years he was living there. (The prevailing theory now is that they were
the byproducts of experiments by his flatmate, surgeon William Hewson.)
It should not surprise us that one so individually accomplished would
have subscribed to a spirituality of the self.
By continually improving his own public standing, Franklin was able to
affect positively the lives of many -- even three centuries beyond his
birth.
Category: Editorial and Opinions
Uniform subject(s): Heads of State and heads of government; Multimedia
technologies; Landslides and collapses
Length: Medium, 602 words
© 2006 Winnipeg Free Press. All rights reserved.
www.dallashansen.com |
|
|
|
