Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues: Industry (with Philly Family Photos)

"Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."

--- Ben Franklin on Industry

The double-edged sword of both the information age in general and this Covid-19 work-from-home trend for white collar employees specifically has been the ability to work anywhere at any time.  Yes, you save the commuting time, expense and aggravation, but you may find it difficult to ever clock out.

Regardless of whether they actually heard it expressed in Benjamin Franklin's terms, our children have embraced his concept of Industry.  They all work dilligently at their jobs and have become quite successful at young ages.  As such, to some extent they always feel opportunity tapping on their shoulders encouraging them to do more.

All of our kids work in their virtual job environments from early in the morning until late at night.  Gina tends to work on her computer, so she's less drawn in by the immediacy that arrives over cell phones by the minute.

I was happy to note that Amy, who drove down from Jersey City with her boyfriend, wasn't checking her iPhone nearly as compulsively as I have seen her sometimes, but even on Thanksgiving Day she periodically double-checked that her PopSci and other online links to Amazon and other places were working to be sure her company made revenue.

Jay was in Florida with his wife Sasha to celebrate Thanksgiving with her 97-year-old grandmother Maudie, but no doubt any time a customer contacted him with a song request for an advertising campaign, Jay immediately responded enthusiastically as he always does anywhere at any time.

Their significant others seem to keep more regular office hours, but all exhibit great industriousness during scheduled work days.  They're mostly working remotely, but Laszo now communtes into his job at Drexel University in Philadelphia four days a week.  His part-time job preppng high schoolers for SATs recently went on hiatus, giving him more free time for a few months anyway.

Granddaughter Emma may not have a job, but she excels at her school work, whether on a virtual schedule or intermittent times when students are allowed back in classrooms.  In addition, she does helpful chores around the house.  Already an accomplished manga artist, she's devoting more time of late spending hours that other kids probably use for TV into musical pursuits, learning viola and piano.

Ben Franklin undoubtedly carried this same type of enthusiasm into his efforts as he built his printing business, and his industrious nature stayed with him as he found new challenges as natural offshoots and seemingly unrelated fields.  Upon seeing a lecturer's presentation about electricity, where sparks flew from a boys eyes, Ben became increasingly fascinated with the potential of this startling but usually invisible force that could be methodically elicited

As a man of means, Benjamin bought a few items necessary to conduct his own "parlor tricks" for the amusement of his friends and himself.  In the process, he attracted to him a group of associates, whom he deemed "Electricians," a new term for what would through his efforts come to be seen as a new science.

Ben introduced many other electrical terms that all of us understand and use without considering their origin.  Postive and negative, as well as the equivalent words and signs, plus and minus, which we've all relied upon when we changed a flashlight battery or jump-started a car were first used with regard to electriity by Benjamin Franklin.  In addition, the word battery itself and charge were also first used with regard to electricity by Franklin.

Franklin also coined condenser, storage, and conductor into what became the foundations of electrical vocabulary.  We now understand beginning as children that lightning is not some unknowable force of nature but a form of electricity because of Franklin's experiments, including his famous key on a kite string we all learned about in school.  It was actually Ben's 20-year-old son William holding the string with the key and kite, but it was Ben's experiment.

Ben Franklin came up with a key on the string of a high-flying kite because there was not a building in Philadelphia that was tall enough to properly carry out that experiment.  Ben soon donated to build a new church with much higher steeple, understanding this type of structure could be a perfect place to conduct his electrical experiments.

Ben always supported his own Presbyterian church and churches of other faiths with generous financial contributions, so it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to be such a benefactor for a new project.  Despite being a Deist himself, Ben considered churches vital to the moral direction of the citizenry.  Ben personally believed the specific dogma of the Presbyterian faith in which he had been raised or any other specific religion was less important than the good works and lifestyle they inspired.  If a new church edifice with a very high steeple should advance science, so much the better.

A dyed-in-the-wool entrepreneur, Franklin capitalized on his discovery that a tall pole could attract lightning which could then be directed down a metal cable to harmlessly ground the potentially damaging or even deadly charge, thereby saving the building itself from being struck.  He started selling lightning rods.

At this time, Pennsylvania was considered a backwater outpost far from the civilized world, but these "Philadelphia Experiments" were duplicated in Europe, where his name rose in prominence within the scientific community.  

It is not an exaggeration to say that Ben Franklin transformed electricity from being a curiosity or flashy magic trick into a serious science.  In this field, combined with his other discoveries like the gulf stream, he was considered in the same august company as Sirs Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon.  His reputation opened doors to exchanging ideas with the brightest minds of the Enlighenment.  He became good friends with David Hume and a regular associate of Voltaire, among many others.

Without doubt, between his printing business and sundry offshoots, plus significant scientific pursuits, Ben Franklin lived an industrious life.  However, we still have barely touched on the field through which he became most famous, his statesmanship that contributed greatly to the founding of our country.

Yes, if you are looking for a paragon of industriousness, you'll find no better example than Benjamin Franklin.  In my mind, however, I'll put my own family including my wife Julie, offspring, parents, grandparents and extended family as models of industriousness in their own lives.

Working together for our Thanksgiving meal, fruit cake project and the post-Thanksgiving Christmas tree decorating displayed in this post put our industry on display for another wonderful holiday season.  We also embarked in serious house hunting in several nearby cities as something of a family project.  A few photos from househunting excursions --- that Wiener-dog Wonderland was in Havertown --- are also in this post, including the house that almost became our new home and one closer to Gina's place that were a bit out of our price range.  Not pictured was the one I called the Gilmore Girls Grandparent's house at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in Bryn Mawr which is a short train ride from Merion Station.  I personally loved that one.

How serious was this house hunting? 

Julie and I wrote an offer 4% above asking price for a house that we thought would lead to us moving a mile from Gina's home.  We were disappointed to lose to someone who paid another 4% more and waived all contingencies, including any type of inspection.

Unfortunately, the location for that house was so perfect that nothing else seems to ever stand up to that standard, but who knows what the future may hold?