Like
so many others, including Malcolm X, Benjamin Franklin kindled his appetite for
knowledge with the act of reading.
Benjamin took it a little farther than Malcolm in that he sought to
perfect the use of his knowledge in the form of writing whereas Malcolm used
his to help others. Both were given a
set of circumstances that enabled their natural desire to learn the chance to
flourish. Malcolm’s was prison and the
desire to help others while Benjamin’s was basically forced on him by his
father despite his wishes to go to sea.
Neither of the circumstances was the ideal one
for those two individuals and yet they may have been a veritable cornerstone of
the people they were to become. Imagine
if you will that Malcolm never went to prison.
Do you think he would have learned to read? Or would he have continued to hustle on the
streets? What course would that have set
for the fate of African Americans? The same
thought goes for Benjamin Franklin. Let’s
say he went to sea as his heart desired.
Would we have the modern luxury of electricity? Or would it have taken another form? In the end I see both their stories as the
same song just played to a different tune.
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