At the same time, the Poor Richard persona drives me crazy because it smacks of good old Protestant work ethic, which I (as a lazy person) take strong exception to. This is the stuff chirped by irritating people on Monday mornings; printed on motivational posters of dangling kittens and icebergs. Some of the most blatant offenders:
Would you live with ease, Do what you ought, and not what you please.
...then have a ROLLICKING midlife crisis, leave your spouse for a flighty someone the same age as your oldest child and cry yourself asleep each night into your single malt. Alone.
There’s many witty men whose brains can’t fill their bellies.
Anatomy: Franklin's kryptonite.
Nothing but Money,
Is sweeter than Honey.
Actually, a lot of things are sweeter than honey. Aspartame. Corn syrup. Saccharine. Oh, yes; AND free time. Which is to say time not spent in the deadening and endless pursuit of wealth.
Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
...or a breakfast-shift McDonald's employee.
An old young man, Will be a young old man.
...who has never stayed up later than midnight, but has been prematurely balding since he was 20.
Why does the blind man’s wife paint herself?
I feel like there's a slippery bit of misogynistic logic somewhere in there. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I suspect it has something to do with commodification of female bodies and the male gaze...or so my copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves tells me...
Drink water, put the money in your pocket and leave the dry bellyache in the punchbowl.
Then be the only sober person at the lame 18th century party that involves drunken harpsichord, cow-fat candles and endless quadrilles. Sounds fantastic.
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However. With that being said...according to David Keirsey's famous temperment sorter, 1/2 of my personality is similar to Franklin's. According to Keirsey, he's an ENTP (Rational Inventor). That was my childhood type until my thought processes gradually became more introverted. Possibly because not a lot of people are interested in discussing the glue function of particles in Japanese linguistics, or how snorkingly funny Joss Whedon's writing can be (especially in Roseanne and Firefly). Being a geek is such a lonely road to travel.
(I'm serious about the Keirsey! Check out the Keirsey Sorter by clicking the following photo. If you haven't heard of it before, it is actually a very useful tool for mediation and conflict resolution. They teach the KST-II at such luminous old guard institutions as Purdue and Johns Hopkins.)
I am an INTP (Rational Architect) which means I share a type with Marie Curie, Albert Einstein and Harper Lee. Albert Einstein - the man who had to call his wife from the middle of the street for a reminder about where he was supposed to be going.
Yeah. That sounds more like me. >_<
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