Let’s see if we can unpack some of what Franklin wrote those many years ago.
I confess that I do not entirely approve this Constitution at present; but sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment and pay more respect to the judgment of others. –Ben Franklin
After the many hot days of debate and frustration, Franklin realized that the convention was in danger of undoing all its hard work by infighting. Worse, as we shall see, he worried that they might split and upon returning home, compromise their effort by publically complaining about whatever issues each had privately about the new Constitution.
Franklin thus spoke these words that our current (and any future) leaders would do well to hear. Note that he starts by admitting that he personally doesn’t like the document. Such an honest admission helps set up the direction of his speech. He is NOT going to use the fact that he isn’t pleased against the document. Rather, even though he is saying “this is not the document I would have created were I working alone,” he is going to openly state his support.
Why? Because his 81 years had given him enough time to learn the lesson that often those that disagree with you may know something of the issue. As I teach my students, a true critical thinker realizes that those on the other side of an issue are not “stupid” or “dumb” or “idiots.” Typically the lead voices of a divide have thought through their opinion very well. Usually, in the case of politics, they are not putting for a plan in order to HARM the country, but rather something they truly believe to be worthy. It may not be, but they think it so. That should suggest to those on the other side that they should strive to hear well the other opinion. So often today there is little actual listening. I think that I, like Franklin, have learned that I do not know everything and do find my position being tweaked due to “better information or fuller consideration”
Furthermore, Franklin lays out a truth that would have been a great aphorism for Poor Richard’s Almanack–“It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment and pay more respect to the judgment of others.”
Would that all learn this proverb and apply its wisdom to their lives. Certainly it would be great for any political leader to apply this notion.