In Benjamin Franklin’s work, “The Autobiography”, he writes about his 13 virtues and explains how they play into his everyday use. He invented a chart that helped him keep up with which virtues he successfully worked through on each day of the week Those virtues are Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity and Humility. He had a neat technique that seemed to keep him focused and determined. There are three precepts that interest me and seem to play a big role in my life; Order, Sincerity and Tranquility. One of Franklin’s precepts was Order. “Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time.“ I perceive this to having order in my life, letting things come as they do, and not rushing things that will come in their own time, Order, or the way I look at its meaning, plays a big part in my life I am more of a “go with the flow” type of person, working towards goals, but not stressing on unimportant things in life. I also see Order as time management, and having an organized schedule to be able to get everything done.
This is also important in my life, as it is in most peoples. Time management is important in school with homework, projects, essays, and still wanting to have spare time for other things. Aside from Order, Sincerity is another precept that interests me. Another precept of Franklin’s is Sincerityi “Use no hurtful Deceit Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly. His use of Sincerity says to me to be kind, and have no hidden form of wrongful purpose behind my actions It also goes along with the famous saying, “treat others how you want to he treated,” Sincerity should be important in everyone‘s lives and found more often in the world than it is, but to me, it is highly important. Having sincere actions, words, and thoughts create a pure and honest life; no lies, deceit, or bad qualities within the lifestyle. I try to be sincere in everything I do, although sometimes I slip up, of course, Besides Sincerity, [also go by Tranquility.
Tranquility was another one of Franklin’s precepts “Be not disturbed at Trifles, or at Accidents common or unavoidable.” To me, I see this as saying that things happen in the world that is uncontrollable, and I have to be okay with it I am a laid back person, so to me this is basically what I base a lot of things on. I think it is very important not to spend too much time worrying or trying to change things that I cannot control, good or bad Accidents happen in the world, but there’s always something positive that comes out of it that can be used to build or learn from, if having a positive mindsett Some things may happen that one disagrees with or that can be hurtful, mentally or physically, but I cannot let that stop or change who I am in a negative way.
Learn from mistakes and things that happen, to become a more experienced individual Benjamin Franklin’s virtues were meant for his personal use of becoming a better person, but everyone can relate to them in some way, either agreeing with or using them in improving their lifestyle, I respect Franklin’s use of these thirteen virtues and how he used them to his benefit, and think it is a wonderful idea to use them in constructive criticism towards oneself Order, sincerity, and Tranquility were the three main precepts that I use in my life; Order having the management of things and goals in my life that need to keep straight and work towards, sincerity having a pure, innocent purpose for all actions, and tranquility to stay on track, and not let things that I could not control get me off track of my life.