“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

Benjamin Franklin

Considered by many to be one of the first modern day autobiographies is “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.”

It is a wonderful book that covers the history of his life and the sharing of his philosophies that he felt might help those that read his book. It is an excellent combination of storytelling and conveying important life lessons. His covers his trials and tribulations in the business world from being an indentured servant to winning printing contracts with Pennsylvania legislature. His experiments with electricity and inventing the lightening rod. How we worked for the common good and created libraries and the American postal service.

He explains his philosophies and what he valued in a good person in his method of tracking transgressions of the thirteen virtues he aspired to: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity and humility. He tracked his daily failures pursuing these virtues. It is interesting to note that he tracked his failures, not his successes. He was wise enough to know that he would fail repeatedly. He was strong enough to know that he could make daily progress toward his goals.

This is a great example of letter or book written with the intention of helping future generations. 

Throughout history people have been writing letters to their grandchildren – they just didn’t call them that. They called them memoirs and autobiographies. I consider most of them to be a form of a letter to your grandchildren. They told the story of their lives. They wrote about what was important to them and how they overcame challenges.

I will focus on several of the these memoirs, autobiographies or letters in my next series of articles. They provide examples of how people have been writing their stories for centuries. They are the best examples of how people tried to help future generations by sharing their life stories.

“The Story of My Life” by Helen Keller

This is  an awesome book written by a blind and deaf woman. Pause and just think about that. She can’t see anything and she can’t hear anything. Spend 60 seconds with your eyes closed and pretend you can’t see or hear anything. Total darkness and silence for the rest of your life.

Thanks to Anne Sullivan who had to work so hard and so long to break into that darkness, Helen finally broke out of that kind of hell by understanding that the way Anne Sullivan’s fingers were moving meant “water.” Helen broke through her endless silent night of suffering and learned to communicate with finger gestures. As touch was her only way of communication, she poured her life into reading sign language and reading Braille. 

Helen eventually learned four different languages; English, French, German and Latin. She graduated from Radcliffe University. She played chess and rode bicycles. Yes, it was on the back of tandem bike. She read hundreds of books and she wrote her own biography. If a blind and deaf person can write their autobiography, can you?