“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin Quotes. BrainyQuote.com, BrainyMedia Inc, 2021. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/benjamin_franklin_141046, accessed December 30, 2021.
Frequently, our culture encourages us to confront others. If they don’t believe what our group believes, they are heathens that we should deal with. Media and advertisements tell us we’re okay and if there is any problem, it’s because of “those” people.
This philosophy is enticing because it takes the responsibility off of us. We’re off the hook if everyone else is the problem. We don’t have to change and our kids are all right!
However, the problem with this outlook is nothing ever changes. We discover the other group thinks they are in the right as well. So we have a choice between trying to coerce someone else to change or changing ourselves. And who do we have more control over?
And of course, if the other group is the problem, we must confront them. We should tell them that they’re wrong, ridicule them, shame them and if necessary, fight them. When we do this, we join a proud tradition of going to war.
In this quote, Benjamin Franklin reminds us it is only ourselves that we can change. We have plenty of vices to work on. Let’s start where we are and make this next year a better one.