Ben Franklin and the Laws of Life
  What ideals do I believe in?

For this assignment, identify one virtue that you think is important to living a good life. Also, write or find an aphorism that expresses that virtue. (An easy way to do this is to search google with a virtue and the word “quotation” to get a list of quotes related to the virtue you’ve chosen. For example searching “honesty quotation” yields such things as this:

“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.” Marcus Aurelias

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.” Edward R. Murrow

Give your essay a title that includes the virtue you are writing about.

Put your quotation in italics below the title, as an epigraph to the essay. (Epigraph: a quotation set at the beginning of a literary work or one of its divisions to suggest its theme).

Write an essay that draws on an experience you have had that illustrates what the virtue looks like in practice and why the ideal is important to you.

Read this background information before you begin:

Benjamin Franklin identified thirteen virtues he knew he had to develop if he wanted to be successful. Virtues are character strengths, such as courage or generosity. There are some virtues we need to practice if we are to move toward our ideals. For example, if we want to be trusted we need to tell the truth. Our ideals are the standards we set for ourselves--such as “I will always be honest with my friends” or “I will always be kind to my grandparents.”

Franklin’s thirteen virtues can be categorized as personal and social character traits.

Personal

The eight personal virtues relate to your attitudes toward activities and their challenges. Good personal character traits will better your chances of success in achieving your goals.

Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

Social

These five social virtues that Franklin stated concern your attitudes toward people with whom you have dealings. Good social character traits result in other people wanting to do business with you or to have relationships with you.

Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Franklin’s application

Ben Franklin tried to lead his life following these virtues. He placed each one of the virtues on a separate page in a small book that he kept with him for most of his life. He would evaluate his performance with regard to each of them on a daily basis. He would also select one of the virtues to focus on for full week.

Franklin often emphasized these virtues in his Poor Richard’s Almanack. Later, In a letter to his son William, he gave the list of virtues, recommending that William follow them too.

Although Franklin tried to follow them himself, he sometimes went astray from his good intentions. For example, in his Almanack, Poor Richard (Franklin) gave the advice:

“Be temperate in wine, in eating, girls, and cloth, or the Gout will seize you and plague you both.”

Meanwhile, Franklin was known to relish his food, to flirt and sometimes to dress to impress people. His food and wine-drinking habits led him to be plagued with the gout for much of his life. But still, the positive intentions were there.

The Laws of Life

Ideals, along with the virtues needed to move toward them, may be thought of as the “laws of life.” Franklin was trying to articulate the “laws of life"--the rules he and others had to live by if they wanted certain blessings, such as health and wealth. All cultures believe there are “Laws of Life”—universal ideals—and these are often expressed in aphorisms (brief, wise sayings). Here are some common aphorisms:

You are only as good as your word.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Let peace begin with me.
To have a friend, be one.
Never give up, never give up, never give up.

Essays that deal with the “laws of life”

A weekend with grandma

Halfway through high school, I realized that the most important part of the week was the weekend. Of course the weekends were the best; there was no school, we could sleep-in, and hang out with our friends. The weekends were precious, If anything messed up the plans, the whole weekend was officially ruined. It was a Saturday afternoon, and I just woke up. The weekend was so far perfect. My dad, a hard-working, can’t-stop-working man, was leaving to go to my grandma’s house. He suggested that Laura and I go with him to help out, oo. I knew this was the right thing to do, it just was not the usual weekend plans. We decided to go because we knew it would be fun. I always enjoy visiting my grandma. She is one of those people you can never get bored talking to. She can always give you a good laugh and is one of the kindest people I know. When we arrived, my cousin Brian was already there. Grandma informed us that we were going to help her with the Christmas tree. I was excited. Christmas is my favorite time of year because it brings my family together.

Brian, Laura and I went to collect the pieces of the tree in her garage. We pulled the branches from the torn, yellow garbage bags and helped Grandma place them in the tiny holes. We were talking and laughing together as we worked and the time seemed to fly by.

There is always another tree glowing in this lonely hose during the holidays. The tree stood in the basement, where every year on Christmas Eve my family and I sat around to exchange gifts. The three of us received the honor of putting up this tree.

It was a special tree. The tree is silver from when my father, aunt, and uncle were younger. We got to work on this old tree while my grandma was searching to find the bow for the top. She returned later with a box. She explained that the box was from a turkey shoot her grandfather went to. Inside the box were about two-dozen aluminum ornaments form when my grandma was a child. Grandma smiled as she remembered the times when she placed these on her own tree years ago.

We placed the ornaments on the tree. Grandma’s smile got larger by the second. When we finished, she stood back and stared and the tree. Her face was glowing and she was so proud of her old, silver tree. As I looked at the tree, I realized how awesome it was to have spent this day with my grandma. When we sit around the tree this Christmas Eve and the ornaments are shining in the light, the tree will mean so much more to us four than it ever has before. I cannot wait until the next weekend when I get to spend a day laughing and talking with my Grandma.

The Girl In The Mirror

Five minutes, I think to myself. I tap my foot impatiently, with a heap of clothes in my arms. And then a curtain pulls open in the very back. I grab Lauren’s arm and dash to the only open dressing room. Finally, I think to myself with a sigh of relief. Now I can have some fun. I pull a small spaghetti strap shirt over my head and look in the mirror and turn away in an instant, not wanting to look at the image of a little stomach pudge and my chest that won’t fit into the top. I try on a pair of jeans and could barely fasten the buckle. I use to fit in this size last year.

“Let me try on that shirt,” Lauren says. I hand over the shirt and look in envy as it fits perfectly. Why can’t I be just a little skinnier?

All my life I’ve been the “bigger” child in the family. I was never overweight by any means, but looking back at my old family photos all I see is the image of my smaller gymnast of a sister with a flat stomach. Back then I felt huge compared to her and that’s how I still feel today. I’d stand in front of the mirror at night and suck in my stomach, wishing I looked like one of the models in the fashion magazines: tall and skinny.

Then it happened. My sister has been a gymnast since the age of two and a pretty good one at that. This barely five foot girl has won more medals and trophies than I can count. She seemed almost impossible to beat and as a child I would watch her thinking she was the goddess of gymnastics, graceful and poised at everything she did. The only problem with this little pro was she was barely seventy pounds at the age of fifteen. Why she did this to herself is something I cannot explain. All I know is that this problem cost her the dream of a future career in gymnastics.

My parents finally addressed my sister’s weight issue when she broke her tibia while at a competition in Chicago. After taking her to a doctor she was diagnosed with anorexia. She was sent to a nutritionist and a doctor specializing in eating disorders. When she was then diagnosed with osteopenia, my parents realized that she had to quit her life’s hard work to get better.

Living with a sister who is half your size is not an easy thing for a young teen to grow up with. But looking at what my sister had done to herself to be skinny makes me think twice about myself. At 5:30, I may not be the skinniest girl, but at least I know that I am healthy for my size. Going to the mall now and seeing these young girls getting smaller by the minute, I think in disgust at the message that girls must be a size zero and 95 lbs to be considered beautiful in today’s society. Every now and then when I hear a friend or even a stranger say, “I’m too fat,” I tell them that they are beautiful the way they are and they don’t need to lose an ounce of weight, because they don’t know the things I know about wanting to be skinny.