ONE THE GREAT BEN FRANKLIN GOT WRONG: NEVER, EVER, CUT OFF YOUR BLOOD FOR ANY REASON!

This is from our friends at "Delancey Place". Almost every family has some of this. Avoid it at all costs. I think an analogy can be made to political parties as well. Amazing to think that a man so brilliant could have broken his own heart by such stunningly stupid and prideful behavior:

In today's excerpt, Benjamin Franklin becomes estranged from his son, William Franklin. William had grown up close to Ben and was his constant companion during their years together in London. Ben had helped secure William's appointment as Royal Governor of New Jersey, yet when the Revolution started, William had remained loyal to the King, creating a rift between the two that was never repaired. William was imprisoned during the war, released in a prisoner's exchanged in 1778, and after a lengthy period with no communication between them, wrote his father in 1784 to "revive the affectionate intercourse and connexion which till the commencement of the late troubles had been the pride and happiness of my life." (Blogger's note: here at least William displays some innate wisdom which he must have picked up from his philosopher father.)

Ben replied: " 'Nothing has ever hurt me so much and affected me with such keen sensations as to find myself deserted in my old age by my only son; and not only deserted, but to find him taking up arms against me, in a cause wherein my good fame, fortune and life were all at stake." 'You conceived, you say, that your duty to your King and regard for your country required this. I ought not to blame you for differing in sentiment with me in public affairs. We are men, all subject to errors. Our opinions are not in our own power; they are formed and governed much by circumstances that are often as inexplicable as they are irresistible. Your situation was such that few would have censured your remaining neuter, though there are natural duties which precede political ones, and cannot be extinguished by them.'"Franklin underlined these last words...he could forgive (friends) for their political differences with him on the issue of allegiance to the Crown; family he could not....He did not accuse Loyalists as a group of waging war on him personally...but he so accused William. (blogger's note: here is where Ben blew his chance to be whole--he confused principles and family, thereby consigning himself to the emptiness of family separation. A bad call, especially when William was extending his hand.) He seems not to have considered that William might have leveled an analogous accusation against him. After all, Franklin was the rebel of the two."Ben and William met only once more, briefly and awkwardly, and remained estranged for the remainder of Ben's life.

H.W. Brands, The First American, Doubleday, 2000, pp. 645-6