"Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults." -Ben Franklin
Now and again I will feature texts authored by individuals whose past achievements can serve to inspire today's people and cultivate intellectual growth. Learning from history is a vital component of anyone's education. Avoiding past mistakes and building on past successes facilitate progress in both everyday life and modern science. With new communication technologies affecting our lives, it can be difficult to remember our heritage. It is increasingly easy to get swept up by social pressures and lose focus on the direction of one's life and the world at large. By staying cognizant of our roots we nurture personal growth and integrity. Works such as those featured here are part of mankind's intellectual heritage and are well worth anyone's study.
Today's featured classic is Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. America owes much to this prodigious man. His lightning rod has prevented countless fires and deaths. His theory of electricity was a crucial milestone in scientific progress. Other inventions have significantly benefited mankind immeasurably. Benjamin Franklin founded the United States' first public lending library and other valuable institutions. He was Ambassador to France, rallying support for the United States during the Revolutionary War. As a Founding Father, he helped start a nation that would stand for freedom, individualism, and humanitarianism. In his autobiography Ben Franklin narrates his astonishing life with humility. One of the best-known parts is his “moral perfection” project where he focused on thirteen virtues (temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, humility) with which to improve himself as a person. During his life he went from being a poor news printer to co-founding a nation. His values and accomplishments have helped shape the American Dream.
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