Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/benfranklin2_h3.jpg)

My hero of all time is Benjamin Franklin. He was the most famous and respected private figure of his time. He was the first great self-made man in America who came from a poor family.

Franklin was a second-generation immigrant. Benjamin Franklin differed little from other young children in that his family and his society influenced his development and perceptions that supplied some of his ideas for future teenage rebellion. Franklin’s early influences for better or for worse were from his father, who was a Puritan candle maker that came to Boston, Massachusetts, from England in 1683, his intellectual Uncle Benjamin and Franklin’s brother James.

Franklin was a very smart man who taught himself languages, read widely, and practiced writing for the public. When he moved from Boston to Philadelphia, he had already had the kind of education associated with the upper classes. The many qualities that he had steadily propelled him to wealth, respectability, and honor. He was also never selfish and always tried to help other ordinary people become successful by sharing his insights with them.

Franklin began his journalism career as an apprentice in his brother’s print shop. Franklin finally became a successful journalist. Franklin had an annual book of useful encouragement and advice that he had for people to read. Franklin wanted to establish good habits, so he invented a reusable calendar record book in which he worked on one virtue each week, recording each lapse with a black spot. He saw that by writing, he could best advance his ideas in life, which led him to the discovery of electricity who he found through his famous kite experiment. Part of Franklin’s legacy is the example he set as a common-sense business man.

Ben Franklin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia

Franklin’s work with electricity was undoubtedly his most famous scientific accomplishment. Despite his prosperity and fame, Franklin never lost his democratic sensibility and he was an important figure to Americans and to all people all over the world to give the world a better sense of understanding, which is why Benjamin Franklin is my ultimate hero.