Adam Hanft channels Ben Franklin in a letter to the Millennial Generation. Back in my day – the 1700s — we didn’t name generations; we didn’t even think of people in sociological (or journalistic) slices. We thought a lot more about the ideas that brought people together. You know, the “universal rights of man”… Read more »
When twenty-year-old Benjamin Franklin included “sincerity” on his list of Thirteen Virtues, in 1726, he was highlighting a moral trait that had been in place for two centuries. “Use no hurtful deceit,” he wrote, “think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.” Franklin’s predecessor Deists harbored demands for personal integrity and upright… Read more »
Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. When Franklin wrote, “Be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents, common or unavoidable,” he demonstrated tremendous wisdom about the power of acceptance. Trifles, accidents—all the things that happen in life that could derail us—are not going anywhere. They are common, inevitable even,… Read more »
