Benjamin Franklin says, “Share the good!"

Benjamin Franklin believed in the importance to do and share the good. In fact, he had two primary questions he asked himself each day. The first was his morning question. He asked himself, “What good should I do this day?”

What a great question to start your day off with. It brought him clarity of purpose and reminded him daily what was important to him, doing good.

The second was his evening question. He asked himself, “What good have I done today?” He ended each day reflecting on the good he did each day. You know sometimes he thought he could have done more (he was human like the rest of us). I also can imagine him smiling when he reflected on the good he had done on a daily basis as well.

Of course Benjamin Franklin did a lot of good and was an American pioneer in sharing the good. He was such an optimist and positive thinking person I can just imagine what a man of his capacity thought about each morning and each evening when he asked himself these questions.

There is no doubt Franklin reflected on What good should I do this day? and What good have I done today? when he was thinking about the good history remembers him for. Things like being a Founder of the United States of America, his writings, his inventions, his politicking and diplomating (yes I took literary liberty with this word). I doubt if anyone reading this needs a history lesson of all of the good Franklin contributed to not only America but mankind.

What is interesting to me however reading through his autobiography (photo is excerpt of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, published in 1793, page 40) is when you get the insight of who Franklin was as a man it gives deeper insight to the two questions he posed to himself each day. Franklin believed in doing good, in sharing good, in the little things as well. He saw and focused on the good in his relationships, friendships, and life’s simple pleasures.

I encourage each of us to follow Franklin’s example in starting and ending each day with asking ourselves the same two questions:
What good shall I do this day?
What good have I done today?