At Monday’s school assembly I used Benjamin Franklin’s story to talk about the importance of effort and persistence as we strive for personal excellence.
“energy and persistence conquer all things”
Benjamin Franklin
I talked about his childhood days in Boston some 300 years ago where as one of 10 children his parents could only afford to send him to school for two years till the age of 10. He then worked for his father and at 12 years of age become an apprentice printer to his brother John. When he was 15 he founded the first independent newspaper “The New-England Courant”.
What set Benjamin up for life successes was his voracious reading habit. He applied his energy and persistence to his reading. As can be seen from his, at times, rebellious yet successful life he played a key role in unifying the American colonies and today he is still referred to as “the first American”.
Today the same reading habit is required of us all if we are to taste life’s successes and we need to apply our energy and persistence to the task.
I have included this short clip on his life.
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