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Young Ben Franklin’s Hilarious and Timeless Lesson in Humility
Described by esteemed Benjamin Franklin biographer Walter Isaacson (Ben Franklin, An American Life) as “America’s original yuppie,” Ben Franklin’s youth was full of amusing lessons such as the following brief story.
Benjamin Franklin was a teenage runaway. As a printing apprentice for his domineering older brother James, Franklin quickly realized that his mind was one that needed constant independent stimulation. Although his family was among the Puritan tradition of Boston area pilgrims, Franklin was no sucker for dogmatic thinking, religious or otherwise. From a very young age, he was a thinker, a tinkerer, a world dreamer.
Having grown tired of the abuse of his brother and the monotony of mindless tasks, seventeen-year-old Franklin took what little money he possessed and boarded a boat for Philadelphia, at the time a voyage of several days, not informing his family of his decision.
Never one to have trouble making friends or to shy away from self-promotion, young Franklin quicky found opportunities with Philadelphia printers and soon found himself in the company of Pennsylvania’s then colonial governor who lavished the young lad with praise and…
