ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Benjamin Franklin 21628 Views
Share It!
Description:
What do the light bulb, the post office, the lightning rod, the Constitution, and the modern fire department have in common? They were all invented by Ben Franklin. He was the genius behind most of modern day life and technology. Amazing, isn't it?
Transcript
- 00:02
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: The Original Self-Help Book, a la Shmoop.
- 00:10
We all want to improve something about ourselves.
- 00:11
Maybe you'd like to trade the Firestone around your waist for something a little smaller...
- 00:17
...or maybe you'd like to attract that hunky senior without first having to induce Stockholm
- 00:24
syndrome. Enter the self-help book.
Full Transcript
- 00:27
Self-help books are tomes of infinite wisdom and great perception…
- 00:31
…containing advice and prescriptions for achieving perfection in certain areas...
- 00:36
...like how to be a better pope...
- 00:39
...or how to get rich by printing counterfeit money.
- 00:40
Of course, for some people, a self-help book dug out of the bargain bin at Walmart won't
- 00:44
do.
- 00:44
Benjamin Franklin, for example, was so awesome that he had to write his own self-help book…
- 00:49
…aptly titled The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
- 00:52
Franklin dabbled in just about everything
- 00:55
He served as the first American ambassador to France...
- 01:00
...he suggested that the turkey be the national bird of the United States...
- 01:08
...he invented bifocals… and fathered an illegitimate son.
- 01:11
Truly, Franklin was a Renaissance man. Yet even he sometimes thought he could use
- 01:14
improvement.
- 01:14
Maybe it was because he wasn't as good at the glass harmonica as George Washington was.
- 01:18
So, Franklin sought perfection by listing thirteen moral virtues in a small notebook.
- 01:21
Then he kept track of how often he screwed up.
- 01:26
Today's self-help books are very different from the scheme Franklin used.
- 01:31
While Franklin wanted to improve his character – because no one needs two children born
- 01:36
out of wedlock...
- 01:36
...the modern self-help industry caters to those who want to correct superficial flaws.
- 01:42
Also, Franklin understood that there was only one way he was going to become a better person…
- 01:51
…by working hard and exerting self-control.
- 01:52
Because so many of the flaws we see in ourselves today are physical…
- 01:56
…hard work and self-control can't always take us as close to the perfection we desire…
- 02:01
…as money and a good plastic surgeon. The belief that we can achieve whatever we
- 02:03
want, that we can be perfect, is as American as the bald eagle...
- 02:08
...um, turkey.
- 02:09
Yet our perception of what it means to be a better person has morphed over time.
- 02:15
Perhaps we should all take a page from Franklin's book...
- 02:16
...so that, when we seek to improve ourselves, we do so not just for our own benefit, but
- 02:17
for the benefit of others.
- 02:18
We thought you might gobble that up.
Up Next
Ever heard of a "living document"? They eat and breathe just like the rest of us! They even walk around on their own two legs. Okay, fine—maybe t...
Related Videos
If the Puritans had gotten their way, religion would play a much larger role in lawmaking these days. Want to know more? Watch the video for all th...
What happened between the creation of the Articles of Confederation and the ratification of the current U.S. Constitution? This video analyzes the...
The Modernists thought the world had a lot of problems, and they were intent on fixing them—or at least talking about fixing them. Unfortunately,...
This video explains Federalism and the quest for a fair balance between state and national power. It covers the progression and compromises of Fede...