Journal #13

The purpose of the Benjamin Franklin Virtues Project was to work as a team, but also to learn about the thirteen virtues that Franklin created.  He created these virtues to help himself become a moral and better person.  Everyone knows that this world needs help in the moral value category.  For this project, we had to implement one virtue for a whole twenty-four hours.  Some people chose virtues that were a challenge while others just picked an easy one.  I give credit to the people who took this seriously and challenged themselves with the implementation because that was the goal of that part of the project.   The next thing we had to do was to analyze Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography from a specific point of view.  To be honest, I did not enjoy taking part in the Benjamin Franklin Virtues Project.  No one did their part, just like every year.  From past years students, I have heard stories about people not doing their share of the project.  I do not understand why we still do this project if there is one or two people doing three other people's portions.  I understand that we do this project to work on teamwork and distributing the project evenly, but when no one in the group decides to participate, it ends up on one person's shoulders.  This person was me in my group.  I had to make three people's videos because they failed to do their portion.  I do not think that I should have done that because it is not my problem.  The people's videos I did got the same grade as I did for the overall video when they did nothing to help.  It is not fair.  The whole project is not fair. The way that this project could be improved would be to be able to evaluate your group members.  This would help because that way the people who did their work should get a better evaluation than someone who did nothing.  

Was Benjamin Franklin's System of Virtues successful?

“If there were no blemishes in this picture, it would scarcely be human” (Tuckerman).  No one in this universe is impeccable or unblemished.  Many people probably think they are perfect, but in reality they are not.  Benjamin Franklin noticed that his life was flawed, so he contrived a list of thirteen virtues that he thought were necessary to follow to help him reach moral perfection.  Franklin created a cycle that could be completed in thirteen weeks and in four times a year (Franklin).  He followed this system until eventually he was able to stop, because he had no faults.  “After a while I went thro’ one course only in a year, and afterward only one in several years, till at length I omitted them entirely” (Franklin 88).  Benjamin Franklin’s system of virtues was rewarding in making him a moral and exemplary person because the system became fixed into his brain.

“It was about this time that I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.  I wish’d to live without committing any fault at any time” (Franklin 82).  Benjamin Franklin came to the conclusion that he needed to alter his ways of living.  To realize and accept that his life needed changing, would take a lot of will power.  A little notebook was used by Benjamin Franklin to record all of his faults throughout each day, week, month, and year.  By keeping track in his book, he was able to see just how many faults he had in his everyday living.  “I was surpris’d to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish” (Franklin 88).  At first, all he saw were the black markings symbolizing the faults, BUT as his records went on, he noticed the marks slowly diminishing.  Imagine the feeling of accomplishment as the markings decreased as each day went on. 

Benjamin Franklin realized that his life needed adjustment, so he took charge.  He changed his ways of living by coming up with his own techniques.  Franklin did all this adjusting and altering because he wanted to become a better person.  Becoming a better person takes some work and major amounts of perseverance.  "This article, therefore, cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect" (Franklin 88).  In some cases, Franklin just wanted to give up and felt that he could live with his lack of moral perfection.  When he actually thought about it though, he knew that he would not be happy with himself.  In the end, he “omitted them (virtues) entirely” (Franklin 88).  Benjamin Franklin was able to stop completing the cycle because he had trained his mind to always be following the thirteen virtues.  It eventually became a subconscious effort.  All in all, the system of thirteen virtues that Benjamin Franklin created was successful in making him an overall better person.

Bloom, Harold, ed. "The Character of Franklin." Benjamin Franklin, Classic Critical Views. New York: C helsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=&iPin=C C VBF019&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 21, 2012).

Franklin, Benjamin, Dixon Wecter, Larzer Ziff, and Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1959. 81+. Print.

Journal #12

Wow.  It has been quite some time since I have written a journal.  This journal is about "the American dream."  If you have no idea what this "dream" is, don't worry because I did not either.  I had heard of people saying "I am living the American Dream," but I never understood what it actually meant.  To obtain some knowledge on this topic, I got onto the handy dandy internet and looked it up.  "The term “American dream” is used in many ways, but it essentially is an idea that suggests that anyone in the US can succeed through hard work and has the potential to lead a happy, successful life" (Smith).  When I read this, I understood "the American dream" much more.  Today's American dream, in my opinion, would be to be in a position where you can have leftover money to buy things that you don't necessarily need, have healthy relationships, comfortable living, and successful jobs.  A stereotypical example of "the American dream" would be to live in a three story house with three children.  The house has a white picket fence surrounding the outside and is located in the suburbs.  The parents are both doctors and love each other very much.  The family eats dinner together every night and have family game nights.  My family is pretty close to this example.  My parents have been married for twenty years and almost every night we eat dinner as a family.  I take advantage of living in the household that I do.  So many people I know are not as lucky as I am.  Their parents are divorced, don't have a lot of money, poor living conditions, etc.  Today's American dream is more about money, while the stereotypical example is about relationships.  I would rather have healthy relationships than a life full of money.  With money comes greed and greed comes with problems.  To be happy and successful in this world today, you have to be rich and famous.  

Smith, S.E., and Bronwyn Harris. WiseGeek. Conjecture, 21 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.

Ben Franklin Virtues

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was imperative to the Rationalism Period.  In those eighty-four years of living, he invented, revised and composed numerous things.  Franklin is known for inventing electricity and establishing the United States Postal Service, both of which are significant to people's daily lives.  Benjamin Franklin also invented swim fins, or flippers.  We just finished reading an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence that Thomas Jefferson wrote but was revised by various people.  Benjamin Franklin was one of the crucial revisers. One of the pieces that he composed was his autobiography that included thirteen virtues that he felt were meaningful.  The virtues consisted of: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.  "I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurr'd to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully express'd the extent I gave to its meaning" (Franklin 82).

The Rationalism Period was all about using reason and scientific methods and observations.  Instead of blaming God for all of the events that are happening and just praying that they will stop, the people in the Rationalism Period take charge and try to fix it themselves with logic.  Benjamin Franklin was one of those people who used logic and took matters into his own hands.  He saw that he had flaws and committing faults that he felt guilty living with.  Franklin could have prayed to God to fix him like the Puritans, but he decided he would figure out methods to help himself have self-control and self-knowledge.  The method he invented was the list of thirteen virtues that he thought were his weak points.  Benjamin Franklin trained his brain into feeling guilty if he slipped up.  "This article, therefore, cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect" (Franklin 88).  In some cases, Franklin just wanted to give up and felt that he could live with his lack of moral perfection.  When he actually thought about it though, he knew that he would not be happy with himself.  On the next page he talks about how he wishes he would have done a better job of striving for moral perfection.  Even though Franklin did not reach the level he wanted, he was proud of himself because he was a lot farther than he would have been if he never started.  

Having virtues in writing exhibits something that would be seen in the Rationalism period.  Rationalism writing puts  "emphasis on self-knowledge and self-control" and "man’s ability to perfect himself and society" (Hanscom).  This means that people began to understand that they needed to take responsibility so that they could grow not only as a better person, but also to help the community become a better place to live.  "As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other" and "the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct" (Franklin 82).  Benjamin Franklin tells us that knowing whats right or wrong is difficult to determine but if you work at it enough, it will not be as much of a challenge.  Becoming better at knowing what is right or wrong comes with practice, just like a sport or a musical instrument.  You have to stop the bad habits and create new, productive ones to actually see any results.

Benjamin Franklin was not just an inspirational figure in the Rationalism Period, but in American history.  Just think, where we would be if Benjamin had not of invented electricity or established the United States Postal Service.  Granted, someone else eventually would have fulfilled what Franklin did, but you never know.  I mean where would this world be without flippers? It is a very crazy thought.  From Benjamin Franklin, we can learn to strive for moral perfection and shouldn't give up when you feel like you cannot go on.  Learning to deal with challenges is part of living and growing up.  Even though he is  in Heaven and is no longer with us, "His electric personality, however, still lights the world" (Quick).

Franklin, Benjamin, Dixon Wecter, Larzer Ziff, and Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1959. 81+. Print.

Hanscom, Merideth, Julian Orjuela, and Megan Shannon. "Rationalism Period." N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.

"Quick Biography of Benjamin Franklin." Quick Biography of Benjamin Franklin. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2012.