Benjamin Franklin's virtues were obviously highly respected and noticed by everyone. He was one of the wisest men of his time, and didn't boast about it at all. He was respected by everyone mostly for his good virtues which is significant since this blog is on those virtues. These virtues were a way to live by and helped you to better yourself if chosen to be followed. Some of these virtues are Temperance, Silence, Order, etc. In the instructions we are required to relate these virtues to the philosophies of deism. This was found from an online source talking about and explaining what Deism actually is in more depth, "Do not accept the belief of most religions that God revealed himself to humanity through the writings of the Bible, the Qur'an or other religious texts." (Robinson) This means that most Deists don't accept religions involving physical belief, they don't accept religions that say God revealed himself to us through writing the Bible.
Benjamin Franklin's first virtue was, "Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation." (McKay) This can kind of be related to Deism practices because Deist don't want to allow for the belief in these things and if you drink too much you can lose control of what you are saying and thinking and quite possibly go against your religion until you sober up. It is the same concept if you don't eat any food, it is a known fact that if you don't eat food you become very weak very quickly and quite possibly could die. Our bodies require us to eat a significant amount of food a day to stay healthy and get all the nutrients needed for ones self. If you don't eat enough food you wouldn't be able to spread your religion, which is a main goal of most religions practiced. Eating too much food and not enough food are opposites and are bad for you either way, yet they still have the same outcome. If you eat too much junk food, you can become fat and overweight. when that happens, it is a struggle to get back in shape and most over weight people cannot walk, run, or exert too much energy for long periods of time. This is mostly because they dont have the will power since it is hard to do. When this happens it means the religion being practiced by that person cannot be spread in an efficient way and therefore goes against the religion of that person. That is why we should follow all 13 of Benjamin Franklins virtues, including this one on Temperance, so we can stay healthy and active, and have a happy outlook on our lives. Ever since I first read these virtues, I have tried to live out my life as closely as possible to them, because I want to live a health, happy life. I also want to live a long time to see my grandchildrens children, so I want to start healthy young and stay that way throughout my entire liftime.
Robinson, B. A. "Deism: Its History, Beliefs and Practices." ReligiousTolerance.org. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 1999. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.
McKay, Brett and Kate. "Being Virtuous: Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues of Life | The Art of Manliness." The Art of Manliness | Men’s Interests and Lifestyle. The Art of Manliness, 1 June 2008. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Journal 14
If I were Benjamin Franklin's apprentice, I would probably love my job. Ben Frank was a unique man and always did something exciting (or at least we always hear about the interesting things). He also invented many useful things that we use to this day. He was a genius and was remembered for that. I wouldn't be shocked if I wasn't good enough or efficient enough to be his apprentice simply because he was always busy doing something. I think that it would be awesome to do all of this stuff.
One morning I woke up and and Ben was standing over my bed. He told me to get dressed and eat some breakfast. I was confused because normally he was already doing his daily routine when I got up breaking something or fumbling around playing with some new gadget he had made. What made this day unique was how Benjamin Franklin changed history. As it turns out, he had already been up, in fact he hadn't gone to sleep yet since the night before. I went to bed two past twelve plenty tired. I suggested to Ben to do the same but know his stubborn attitude he would be up for at least a couple more hours. Once I had gotten ready, he rushed me out to the old barn in his backyard. Once he opened the doors I was looking at a metal box, not quite sure what I was looking at. He said it was a stove. I didn't quite understand what a stove was until he explained it. Turns out, it was a pretty cool invention. It was a way to cook your food at certain temperatures without having to tend it the entire time and you could cook it evenly. I loved being Ben Franklin's apprentice and it was so much fun. If i could I would go back in a heartbeat.
One morning I woke up and and Ben was standing over my bed. He told me to get dressed and eat some breakfast. I was confused because normally he was already doing his daily routine when I got up breaking something or fumbling around playing with some new gadget he had made. What made this day unique was how Benjamin Franklin changed history. As it turns out, he had already been up, in fact he hadn't gone to sleep yet since the night before. I went to bed two past twelve plenty tired. I suggested to Ben to do the same but know his stubborn attitude he would be up for at least a couple more hours. Once I had gotten ready, he rushed me out to the old barn in his backyard. Once he opened the doors I was looking at a metal box, not quite sure what I was looking at. He said it was a stove. I didn't quite understand what a stove was until he explained it. Turns out, it was a pretty cool invention. It was a way to cook your food at certain temperatures without having to tend it the entire time and you could cook it evenly. I loved being Ben Franklin's apprentice and it was so much fun. If i could I would go back in a heartbeat.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Journal 11
For this journal I thought of the aphorism, A penny saved is a penny earned. This is because saving money is a big deal to me since I have college coming up in my near future. I want to save lots of money for my future so I can have a great appartment and be able to afford everything in my life. College will be very expensive and I am worried I wont have enough money saved.
The penny saved is a penny earned aphorism was written by George Herbert and is very widely known to most people. I like the aphorism because it is easy to depict and understand. I like thinking that if I were to find a penny on the street and save it, after a long time I could have a significant amount of money and a lot of penny's found. I also think about how if it were bigger change than pennies I would have even more money. Although it is pretty self explanatory, A penny saved is a penny earned means if you find money somewhere in your pocket or on the ground, if you save it instead of spending it, you earned it because you chose to save it over spending it. I typically act this way and are smart about my decisions. If I choose to save my money, I remember that I can save up to get something that would be useful in my life and more effective instead of a burger from mcdonalds or something. I think that if I save three dollars that night and do that twenty times, I would have sixty dollars and be able to get a full tank of gas, take someone out to dinner, or even buy a new pair of shoes. I like being smart about my spendings and do even more when I think about them in this way. This aphorism has really played a significant role in my life.
The penny saved is a penny earned aphorism was written by George Herbert and is very widely known to most people. I like the aphorism because it is easy to depict and understand. I like thinking that if I were to find a penny on the street and save it, after a long time I could have a significant amount of money and a lot of penny's found. I also think about how if it were bigger change than pennies I would have even more money. Although it is pretty self explanatory, A penny saved is a penny earned means if you find money somewhere in your pocket or on the ground, if you save it instead of spending it, you earned it because you chose to save it over spending it. I typically act this way and are smart about my decisions. If I choose to save my money, I remember that I can save up to get something that would be useful in my life and more effective instead of a burger from mcdonalds or something. I think that if I save three dollars that night and do that twenty times, I would have sixty dollars and be able to get a full tank of gas, take someone out to dinner, or even buy a new pair of shoes. I like being smart about my spendings and do even more when I think about them in this way. This aphorism has really played a significant role in my life.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a very important document in our countries history that shouldn't be taken lightly. Many people just skim over the article and don't worry about what it says. Its amazing how much people don't care about their freedom. Now that i have gotten that out of my system I can move on to my next point. That is to name the other four authors of the Declaration of Independence not including Thomas Jefferson. They are the one, the only, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, R. R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Of course there were others that were apart of forming the Declaration, but these were the main five that actually wrote it and came up with the proper words to be used in the proper spaces. Obviously the Declaration of Independence is going to be almost perfect in grammar and writing, but there were a couple problems found. These were a couple of errors of faulty logic that I found while reading the Declaration of Independence.
Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.
In paragraph two of the Declaration, it states "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal (Jefferson 122)." This is faulty logic simply because saying all men are created equal means that we all are born free and shall be treated fair, but what it actually means is all of this should happen but it doesn't. I also felt like this was highly opinionated and falsely stated. Truth is, back when the Declaration of Independence was being written people weren't all equal and we aren't to this day. Actually we never will, but that's something we are going to have to come to live with. Back in the 1770's (mainly 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed) there was a lot of racist people and many racist acts still occurred. The African American population was still mistreated and not treated equally. Not even all whites were treated equally. The government was basically looking for a certain age group of people to be apart of the government and help make decisions for the country. That is why most of the people responsible for the Declaration of Independence were 35ish years old. The white male that was younger than this average age group was not enjoyed as much by the government and was treated less that the older male figures. The men that were of this prime age group got special benefits and were able to get away with more things. Unlike younger white males, black males and females were treated even worse. Being obviously unfair, the quote at the beginning of this paragraph was put into the Declaration of Independence to bring safety and security to their race, religion, sex, etc. This must have brought a huge relief to these people and change a ton of peoples lives through careful depicting and editing of the Declaration. Besides these small things here and there the Declaration of Independence is spotless and adapts to any time period correctly and in an understandable way. It was written so it can make sense to all age groups and time periods.
Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was a very original man and a famous one for it. He is responsible for many of the things in our nations history to this day. He was around and was apart of the writing of the Declaration of Independence, he created a chart or point system to help better himself, and a lot more. The point system was using his thirteen virtues he wrote and putting them into play. He would work on one for the first week and put a dot on the day if he needed to work on it some more. The next week he would add another virtue and do the same process over until he got to thirteen, then he would start over again.
Besides being one of the most famous men in American History, he was a very accomplished writer. Benjamin Franklin's writing style was more of a factual type and didn't include a lot of religion. Of course it was an important thing to him, but instead of using examples in context from the bible, he would adapt them to real life stories. Being a Diest, Franklin's writings were unlike William Bradford's or Mary Rowlandson's in a very big way. Since Franklin's writings were from a later time period, they didn't rely so heavily on religion because they were fairly secure as a country. I know it is horrible to say, but when they didn't need help from God, they didn't ask for it, thank Him, or acknowledge Him at all. William Bradford and Mary Rowlandson were Puritain's and their beliefs relied heavily on God. They did everything based off of what they thought God had told them to do. And since they lived their lives for Jesus, their writing styles had a lot to do with religion. Although there is such a difference between Franklin's writing style and Bradford's or Rowlandson's, there were a few similarities too. Benjamin Franklin for instance, didn't incorporate religion into his writings, but he did expect people to help him with anything he needed help with because of their good personality and kind hearts. Franklin lead people through common sense or Rationalism and thought through his decisions possessing and figuring out which way would be the best to teach or lead the people. Although Franklin did not use religion in his writings doesn't mean he isn't religious, but it is disrespectful to God if he did believe. It doesnt bother me too much because Franklin is a national figure, but I do wish that I could make him more of my role model if he did believe in religion more. Basically, in short terms, Benjamin Franklin did everything a good Christian or religious man would do without the religion. I don't think that he should be disrespected for this, but I do feel that it should be known more to the people and not a give-away. Don't get me wrong, Benjamin Franklin was a great man and loved most. "she offered to lodge me until a passage by some other boat occurred (Franklin 107)." All in all, I respect Benjamin Franklin, and accept everything that happened based on the simple idea that we have no control over what already happened.
Bradford, William. "from of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 15, 62-67. Print.
Franklin, Benjamin. "from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 104-108. Print.
Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.
Besides being one of the most famous men in American History, he was a very accomplished writer. Benjamin Franklin's writing style was more of a factual type and didn't include a lot of religion. Of course it was an important thing to him, but instead of using examples in context from the bible, he would adapt them to real life stories. Being a Diest, Franklin's writings were unlike William Bradford's or Mary Rowlandson's in a very big way. Since Franklin's writings were from a later time period, they didn't rely so heavily on religion because they were fairly secure as a country. I know it is horrible to say, but when they didn't need help from God, they didn't ask for it, thank Him, or acknowledge Him at all. William Bradford and Mary Rowlandson were Puritain's and their beliefs relied heavily on God. They did everything based off of what they thought God had told them to do. And since they lived their lives for Jesus, their writing styles had a lot to do with religion. Although there is such a difference between Franklin's writing style and Bradford's or Rowlandson's, there were a few similarities too. Benjamin Franklin for instance, didn't incorporate religion into his writings, but he did expect people to help him with anything he needed help with because of their good personality and kind hearts. Franklin lead people through common sense or Rationalism and thought through his decisions possessing and figuring out which way would be the best to teach or lead the people. Although Franklin did not use religion in his writings doesn't mean he isn't religious, but it is disrespectful to God if he did believe. It doesnt bother me too much because Franklin is a national figure, but I do wish that I could make him more of my role model if he did believe in religion more. Basically, in short terms, Benjamin Franklin did everything a good Christian or religious man would do without the religion. I don't think that he should be disrespected for this, but I do feel that it should be known more to the people and not a give-away. Don't get me wrong, Benjamin Franklin was a great man and loved most. "she offered to lodge me until a passage by some other boat occurred (Franklin 107)." All in all, I respect Benjamin Franklin, and accept everything that happened based on the simple idea that we have no control over what already happened.
Bradford, William. "from of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 15, 62-67. Print.
Franklin, Benjamin. "from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 104-108. Print.
Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Journal 12
My rules would be pretty down to earth, but some must be crazy because I am a crazy dude. One rule must be, you cant eat an ice cream cone upside down. Seriously though, who eats ice cream upside down? I would probably have national cowboy month and everyone would have to dress in western attire and act like they were from that time period. The houses would be redecorated and downtown would be decorated as the square and we would have duels. The power would be turned off and no running water. Of course I will be the all time ruler and winner of everything and everyone would be jealous of me. I would have a three legged horse named Tri-pod and he would live in my house with me. He use to have four legs, but my wife cheated on me for him so I shot them both in the leg. Her leg was fine and she healed quickly. When she got better I kicked her out and had her locked up in the manure barn. My horse had to have his leg amputated and so he lost his original name and on came the new one. I loved this horse to death and if he ever got hurt I would have that person taken away to be with my now stinky ex wife. Other rules might be everyone and everything getting branded with a big CY signifying they belonged to me and I owned them. We would have duels with air soft guns and have fake wars just in case we ever did go to war we would be prepared. We then decided horses and pistols werent enough so we invented the sub machine gun, tank, and .50 cal sniper rifle. Poor enemies never had a chance. They ran away to never be seen again. We also nuked mars because we found out it was the origin of mosquito's and we were annoyed by this. That would be just a couple of my rules I would have for everyone besides non-stop partyin and fun.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
The Crisis, No. 1
As you can tell by the date on this post, it is late. I told you in person but just in case you forgot my internet was not working...aka the security software my dad had on my computer blocked your site. I guess you have pornography or some other inappropriate stuff on it. Anyways this story was pretty interesting because it talked about war and I love talking about war and fighting...because I am of the male gender and enjoy that kind of stuff. It is amazing how much war actually interest the male human being. I feel that this is mostly for the guns, action, and death. This is off topic, so i will stop, the main point I feel Thomas Paine was trying to get across in The Crisis, No. 1 was the point that certain people get different treatment in situations and everyone should be judged and treated fairly. It is seen in modern society that many superstars that go to jail, get out on parole a lot faster than the average human. Even if they have to stay in jail they usually get good quality furniture and basically live out their lives making jail their home. Another time could be before the civil war, when there was discrimination between whites and blacks. Many times if one of the white race committed the same crime as that of one of the black race, the black would be punished and beaten and the white just given a warning.
It says in the book, "...why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other (Paine 136)." This was a real eye opener to me because I didn't really think about how we still discriminate and judge others unfairly to this day. The rest of the story was pretty boring to me, but I was stopped by this excerpt of a sentence and thought about it. We try to eliminate any discrimination in the legal courts, but there always is the possibility for some. No matter what judge is used, they all are human and able to favor one side more than the other. As people started to realized this we adapted it and add the jury to the court system. This helped a lot, but again there is always room for human error.
Basically, all Paine wanted was for people to be treated fairly, and for things to be handled in a rational way. He wanted the country to be ruled by a monarchy and he hated European ideas. These seem like they would be easy and ideas that are no big deal, but they were not taken lightly. Back in the days of Paine, people were opposite of these ideas, and it was a difficult battle for Paine. Besides wanted to better America in a way he thought was right, I feel like he was trying to pick a fight. He always argued and to me, his ideas changed as the peoples did. I think he was one of those peoples who just had to argue with someone about something to feel good about themselves. Those people are kinda interesting to listen to for the first ten minuted and then they get annoying. I feel like I wouldn't have liked Pain, but in the end he did change America.
Paine, Thomas. "The Crisis, No. 1." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 132-136. Print.
It says in the book, "...why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other (Paine 136)." This was a real eye opener to me because I didn't really think about how we still discriminate and judge others unfairly to this day. The rest of the story was pretty boring to me, but I was stopped by this excerpt of a sentence and thought about it. We try to eliminate any discrimination in the legal courts, but there always is the possibility for some. No matter what judge is used, they all are human and able to favor one side more than the other. As people started to realized this we adapted it and add the jury to the court system. This helped a lot, but again there is always room for human error.
Basically, all Paine wanted was for people to be treated fairly, and for things to be handled in a rational way. He wanted the country to be ruled by a monarchy and he hated European ideas. These seem like they would be easy and ideas that are no big deal, but they were not taken lightly. Back in the days of Paine, people were opposite of these ideas, and it was a difficult battle for Paine. Besides wanted to better America in a way he thought was right, I feel like he was trying to pick a fight. He always argued and to me, his ideas changed as the peoples did. I think he was one of those peoples who just had to argue with someone about something to feel good about themselves. Those people are kinda interesting to listen to for the first ten minuted and then they get annoying. I feel like I wouldn't have liked Pain, but in the end he did change America.
Paine, Thomas. "The Crisis, No. 1." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 132-136. Print.