How Busy Are You?
How Busy Are You?
(The following article was written by William “Bill” Schock, the publisher of the Falls City Journal, a bi-weekly newspaper in Falls City , NE. )
“The following came in some material from the Nebraska Press Association, and I was so intrigued by it that I just have to share it with Journal readers. It is an excellent history lesson in not that many words.”
There were only 24 hours in a day, then, as now. But before he died in 1826, he:
*Finished college in less than three years.
*Studied Law and had been admitted to the bar at age 24.
*Introduced crop rotation and terracing to the U.S.
*Designed and built his own home, designed one of the nation’s leading universities and the Capitol building of his own state.
*Invented a plow, a manifold signing machine, a letter copy press, double-swinging doors, a seven-day calendar clock, and countless other gadgets.
*Originated the decimal system for U.S. money.
*Played a violin well.
*Became a serious student of natural history, Indian languages, Latin, Greek, Italian, French, German, Anglo-Saxon, mathematics, history, geography, civics, economics and philosophy.
*Served as a member of his State Legislature, Governor, Minister of France, Secretary of State, Vice President and President of the United States for two terms.
*Created the public school system in his state.
*Established the U.S. Military Academy and designed the uniforms the cadets still wear.
*Wrote the rules of parliamentary procedure under which the U.S. Senate still operates.
*Was an excellent host who enjoyed entertaining.*Fought for a system of government that made the U.S. a democratic Republic, not one ruled by the aristocracy
* Wrote 16,000 letters to friends and colleagues all over the world.
*Designed his own gravestone and created the epitaph listing the three accomplishments, of which he was proudest: “Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence; of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom; and father of the University of Virginia.”
The piece ends with “What a lesson to people who say, in these days of labor-saving devices: ‘I just don’t have the time.”’
I might add that President Thomas Jefferson also was the instigator of the epic Lewis & Clark Expedition which laid the groundwork for the settlement and development of the West.
Wasn’t he something?
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