Benjamin Franklin: Engaging In Community Service

Benjamin Franklin was constantly trying to improve himself and the world around him. To him the two went hand in hand; by improving the community he improved himself, and this was because everything he did to benefit others helped him become more virtuous. Franklin believed that “the most acceptable Service of God is doing Good to Man. […] And that God will certainly reward virtue” (98) He strived to achieve moral perfection by acquiring the habitude(?) of what he deemed the thirteen most important virtues to live by. He believed his service projects which included helping educate, protect, and improve the lifestyle of his community in turn made him a more virtuous man He spent the majority of his life dedicated to serving the community which

In the description of two virtues - Silence and Frugality - he specifically wrote in the precepts about how the virtues were to only “benefit” and “do good to others”. (89) Another virtue Franklin wanted to perfect was Industry. He wrote that the virtue of Industry was to “[b]e always employ’d in something useful” (89). Engaging in community service is a perfect example of carrying out this virtue. The projects that Franklin were involved in were quite useful to his community and society as a whole. The virtue of Resolution meant that if you say you will do something you must follow through, and Franklin strengthened this virtue by completing all of the service projects that he started. With all the service projects, he was creating and managing Franklin really improved in the organizational virtue of Order. Cleanliness, another virtue, is something Franklin not only strived to perfect in his home but also around his town. The virtues of Sincerity and Justice both were improved in his service work of trying to help improve ethical issues. Most of the thirteen virtues that he valued were enhanced by his acts of

He first started with the improvement of the City Watch, which was run by mostly ineffective citizens and the price to pay to get out of the watch was unfair to the poor. Franklin proposed a new plan which included “the Hiring of proper men” (105). He also improved in his virtue of Frugality when he drafted a tax plan based on property in order to help pay for the service of competent workers. Improving the City Watch also strengthened his virtue of Justice since Franklin sought to fix the previously unjust payment problem. Not long after he fixed the City Watch, he wrote a paper about the carelessness of house fires and how to prevent them. This paper sparked interest in his community which then led to the formation of the first fire department. It was a group of about thirty men and they would meet once a month to discuss better ways to become more effective firefighters. With this service project, Franklin really improved in his virtue of Order; he helped organize the group of men and also had to keep track of the monthly