The Virtues of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was a noble man who derived 13 virtues, or staples, that one should live by in order to achieve a balanced life. The thirteen virtues were temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity and humility. Some of these virtues are personal achievements, while others are social. Franklin felt that the social virtues helped others like you better and want to have good relationships with you. These social virtues were silence, sincerity, justice, chastity and humility. He felt that these 5 virtues were necessary for dealing with people especially those who wish to do business with you. The other 8 virtues helped one achieve their goals and built stronger character. He felt that these virtues helped people have better attitudes toward reaches their goals and challenging themselves.
I feel that these goals are a great necessity and although some may be left out, if one can display all of these virtues, they will truly be seen as an intellectual, driven, well liked, well balanced person. Temperance is important because it teaches not to be a glutton. One should not take advantage of all of the food and drink that is available to them because there are other people in the world who are not as fortunate as they are. One should be grateful for what they have and not overindulge, in anything. Order is important because one must learn to manage events in their life and be organized. Without order in life, one will be miserable and all over the place.
Resolution is one of the most important virtues in my mind because if one is not goal oriented then they have nothing to work for and look forward to. Setting goals for yourself will help you work hard and keep pushing forward. I think industry goes hand in hand with resolution because you should always be working towards a specific goal and waste no time in meaningless acts....