“Show me the Benjamins!”
When I see memes or clips of people "Making it rain", it's Poor Richard's headshot flaunted. Is that how Mr. Franklin would prefer to be portrayed today? I cannot speak for him, but I don't believe so.
In his autobiography, he suggested to “STOOP”, implying that by taking a less puffed, and humbler approach, life would be easier. I believe Mr. Franklin would roll his eyes and shake his head knowing we were behaving in hubristic ways.
The American $100 bill displays Benjamin Franklin, an ink well, the Liberty Bell on the front, and on the back side, Independence Hall in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
The world thinks of that piece of paper as a top-notch sign of wealth. The greenback is the highest denomination currently in circulation in the U.S. The crisp, clean printed "Benjamins" stick together when they are new, with beautifully colored artwork and symbols of history for those who know what they mean.
The man whose image appears on our highest value currency is a man who never held our country's highest office. He came from basic beginnings, hustled, and worked his way into a comfortable life by using the skills and tools he had. He climbed to a higher pinnacle by propagating skills in areas where he needed growth.
Franklin was the son of a tallow maker. Imagine a high profile man or woman in the media today coming from a background of basic, hard work, in the skilled trade of tallow processing. Here is a man who came from a family of 17 siblings, who we identify as “numero uno” in terms of wealth on the USA currency. Imagine the lessons you learn in a family of 17, born the 15th child and the youngest son.
At the age of 12, he began to work with his father. Let's paint the picture. If any of you have been to the abattoir lately you may stay with me. The tallow maker would gather up the yellow fat from the beeves, sheep, or horses and haul it to their workshop. Blood, hair, tendons, manure, and general animal industry trash would be mixed with this by-product. The "stench" that historical records mention, came for free.
Some readers might know this musty livestock odor. It's the smell of money to some and disgust to others. The earthy smell of ruminal fluids and livestock on the hook. Old Ben would have known it well. The tallow would be carted back, ground and cooked down, and sold or made into value add products. Tallow is fat, and fat is money. Imagine raising a family of 17 with fat. Fat gleaned from others' waste.
The first memory of money I earned, was in 9th grade. I joined our FFA chapter by paying the dues of $15. Those dues allowed me to attend the district fair judging competition. My agricultural teacher, Mr. Ruben Mcclelland, made a list on the board explaining the contests we could study to compete in. Livestock Judging, Seed Identification, Tractor Driving, Insect Identification, and Weed Identification. I have no memory of why I picked the weeds contest. My only experience in agriculture at the time was gardening with my family, hauling a little firewood, and raising a few puppies with my grandmother.
Mr. McClleland brought plants in each morning and lay them on a table or in a bucket in the agriculture building for each class period to study.
This was the first experience I recall of applying the FFA motto of Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, and living to serve. I applied it day to day.
He brought in lance leaf ragweed, red rice, common ragweed, Virginia buttonweed, purple top, Johnson grass, southern crabgrass, and more plants than I knew existed. I studied them. I read the books he gave us and I scanned the pictures. All while trying to dodge trouble from the slackers that only wanted a day out of school. I had played competitive baseball, football, and basketball up to that point in my life, which branded competition and drive to achieve. I studied. Not only did I want to earn the day out of school, I wanted to win.
On the day of the contest, we loaded the bus and hauled to the fairgrounds, and once there it seemed like hundreds of FFA members there to compete. My pride waxed the day after the fair, as Mr. McCleland, standing tall, front of the class, called out the results. He verbally recognized work, academics, and career skills and eventually he handed ME a check. I placed 6th.
In my freshmen year, that contest brought me a return on my investment of $15, of roughly 26%. The fair board paid me $19 for missing school, learning, and doing it in a field I was interested in. I gleaned knowledge from the unwanted weeds that people wanted to spray and kill, just as Franklin did as a youth with tallow.
Talk about a fast stimulus-response feedback loop. Pay attention here schoolies. The “You're gonna need this in life” or “this is gonna be on the test” is not working. I made bank. I was hooked. In the following years of high school, I went on to place and eventually win that contest, compounding my dues paying investment every year. I invested in myself, worked, applied skills in the industry, and eventually, made my first Benjamin. Little did I know at the time, dear poor Richard followed the same methods.
Let's look at some points of Mr. Franklins' life.
He was a great listener. His skill at being quiet allowed him to observe bits of wisdom. He was a curious individual.
Struggles. He never received full schooling, but read when he had time. He was a self-taught man.His son died at the age of 4.
He had agriculture connections. He brought plants back and forth between Europe and North America. He introduced scotch kale, Swiss barley, Chinese rhubarb, Timothy grass, and Newtown Pippin apples. He bought a New Jersey farm where he retired and he thought of it as a miniature experiment. He worked out and tested drainages, crop rotations, fertilization, and liming.
"A true friend is the best possession.”
” I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”
One of the greatest contributions this founding father contributed to the world is often overlooked. It is a contribution that can be used by peasants and kings. It is not bifocals or the lightning rod.
It is the 13 virtues system he used for self-improvement. Over the next several posts, we will look at this set of guidelines and applications that can help you in progressing from the butcher shop to wearing beaver hats and carrying "bennies".
I hope you'll follow.
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