The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Thoughts from Roger....
In a way, this is not only a biography about Franklin, but it is also the story of America. His rags to riches life story epitomizes the American notion that regardless of status or circumstances at birth, all of us can achieve and serve in a remarkable and wonderful way.
Hope you all enjoy reading (or re-reading) this selection!
2 comments:
I have yet to receive my copy of the book from the library. I've been on the waiting list all month. Apparently it's pretty popular!
-Kimi
I hope you enjoyed reading Ben Franklin. I did.
I was disappointed in one respect, however. The most important parts of his life-- the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary
War, and the Constitutional Convention-- are all omitted! It would have been wonderful to have his first hand accounts of these events. There are 2 really wonderful events from the Constitutional Convention involving Franklin that I really like. One is his plea for divine guidance when the Convention is deadlocked over the question of equal vs. population based representation of the States. You may recall, Franklin suggested they turn to the Lord in prayer reminding them that if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, how could a Nation rise without His help. The 2nd is at the end of the Convention, when the wise, old Franklin comments on the half sun which is carved in the back of the Speaker's chair and says something to the effect, "for these many months I have looked at it and wondered whether it is a rising or setting sun. Now with the signing of the Constitution , I now realize it is a rising sun..." Pretty good stuff, I think--- I wish that he would have updated his autobiography to include the later years of his life.
AS a quick aside, and thinking of incomplete autobiographies, perhaps some of you might have seen (I can't put my hand on it right now) the document that Grandmother Livingston (Afton)wrote when one of the grandkids wiser than me --I'll bet it was Kay or Evie-- asked her to write a history of her life. It was very nice and interesting, although really short, and the main point was as a little girl she was in Church when someone spoke in tongues. I remember thinking at the time: She left out the good stuff! She was born long enough ago to remember the Wright Bros., and the advent of electricity and the telephone. She literaly in her life saw a horse and buggy world evolve to jet travel, not to mention two world wars--what about that stuff?
The part of Fanklin's book I liked the best was when he made the list of virtues and tried to master each of them one at a time. I thought of the list in the 4th Section of the D&C, and am going to try to do a Franklin-like thing and focus on just one at a time and make a conscientous effort to improve.
Also, I think you really have to be impressed with how Franklin did things for the public good-- he just got the job done: libraries, volunteer fire departments, police patrols, etc. I don't know whether he would be more correctly considered on the political left or right; he probably epitomizes the best of both.
Finally, one recent historian noted that of all the Founding Fathers, Franklin is the one who is winking at us. I like that; and I liked his autobiography.
Your thoughts?
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