APRIL 17TH -- WHAT WOULD BE YOUR LIFE'S MOTTO?

Franklin in London, 1767

 

 

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
― Benjamin Franklin -- branded Outlaw by the King for aiding the Revolution.
 

 

1790 -- On this date, Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at age 84. 

 

He took his own advice,

making many scientific discoveries, helping draft the Declaration of Independence, securing French economic and military aid during the Revolutionary War.

 

As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions.  

He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia's fire department and a university.
 

 

1894 -- On this date Nikita Khrushchev was born:

 

"Politicians are the same the world over.  They promise to build a bridge even when there is no river."
 

 

1885 -- Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) was born on this day in Rungsted, Denmark.  She had such determined pride that many in Africa addressed her as "Lioness" rather than Baroness.

 

 

 The result was one of the most adventurous lives in modern literature --

Here is an excerpt from her writings:

 

ON THE MOTTOS OF MY LIFE --

 

"The family of Finch Hatton, of England, have on their crest the device Je responderay, “I will answer.” …

I liked it so much I asked Denys … if I might have it for my own.

 

He generously made me a present of it and even had a seal cut for me, with the words carved on it. The device was meaningful and dear to me for many reasons, two in particular.

 

The first was its high evaluation of the idea of the answer in itself.

 

For an answer is a rarer thing than is generally imagined.


There are many highly intelligent people who have no answer at all in them.

 

 Secondly, I liked the Finch Hatton device for its ethical content.

 I will answer for what I say or do; I will answer to the impression I make. I will be responsible."

 {Wolf Howl quotes this passage to his preternatural students in END OF DAYS.}



I pick O to stand for that grand lady, Flannery O'Connor, who wrote:

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”

 

 

On this day, in 1970 the severely damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns safely to Earth 4 days after an explosion aborted its mission to land on the moon.