The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: Part 12
Bonus:
Summary: Ben Franklin invents stuff, and learns about being non-judgmental from Quakers.
Commentary: After a kind of meh day yesterday, Ben is back up to form.
He established a militia, and designed there flags. Franklin's Irregulars are definitely some kind of badass steampunk regiment. Then he helped Philly buy some cannons.
My answer to him was, that I had read or heard of some public man who made it a rule never to ask for an office, and never to refuse one when offered to him. “I approve,” says I, “of his rule, and will practice it with a small addition; I shall never ask, never refuse, nor ever resign an office.
I have learned that this is generally a good policy. If you turn it down, you'll just have to fix the problems anyway. I'm less sure of the "don't resign" part. What if you have a good successor ready? I guess you could just have them voted in. You could even (while dramatically engineering it to be the tie breaker) vote or them.
Indeed I had some cause to believe that the defense of the country was not disagreeable to any of them, provided they were not required to assist in it. And I found that a much greater number of them than I could have imagined, though against offensive war, were clearly for the defensive. Many pamphlets pro and con were published on the subject, and some by good Quakers, in favour of defense, which I believe convinced most of their younger people.
This is true of a lot of things. People don't want to participate in them, but aren't overly upset by them happening in general. It's more or less the more meaning of tolerance. "I don't like it, but I don't try to stop you from doing it." Tolerance is good. We should bring back tolerance. As opposed to forced participation/enthusiasm, which tends to just have the opposite effect.
“If we fail, let us move the purchase of a fire-engine with the money; the Quakers can have no objection to that; and then, if you nominate me and I you as a committee for that purpose, we will buy a great gun, which is certainly a fire-engine.” “I see,” says he, “you have improved by being so long in the Assembly; your equivocal project would be just a match for their wheat or other grain.”
Ben Franklin is a hypocrite. That's definitely a pun.
And, lastly, as Microsoft kills Windows 10 support and ushers in THE YEAR OF THE LINUX DESKTOP (for real this time):
That, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.
Where is my Ben Franklin themed Linux distro?
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