The Cost of Whistles

I love reading old books and stories about early pioneers in business.  I came across the following article in a little pocket-sized publication series from the 1940’s, titled “The Art of Living Successfully”. 

I believe that “There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don’t know”, as Ambrose Bierce once said (look that name up for some great quotes and ideas).  So by studying the past, we can learn to live better in the present and set ourselves up for a better future.

The hero in our story is Benjamin Franklin – one of the wealthiest and shrewdest businessmen who ever lived.  And what I love most about Benjamin Franklin is that he earned most of his wealth by sharing with other people the how-to secrets of becoming wealthy – my kind of guy!  So, here’s the story.  Enjoy!

“The cost of whistles is a basic problem in society, at least it seemed to have been in Benjamin Franklin’s day, for out of an episode of his boyhood days he exacted a bit of philosophy which indicates that the price of whistles is no small matter in the program of a man’s life.

Among the trinkets offered by a peddler at a fair was a whistle which caught the attention of young Benjamin, and which he coveted.  He resisted the temptation for some time; eventually giving way he bought the whistle, paying a price in excess of its value.

In later years the memory of that transaction brought forth this sage observation: 

“I conceive that a great part of the miseries of mankind are

brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value

of things, and by their giving too much for their whistles.”

This bit of wisdom holds good for today.  A sense of values is essential to the proper conduct of business and personal affairs.

Overpriced pleasures and wasteful delights are to be counted among the costly whistles.  Often their price is far out of proportion to the amount of permanent good they produce and contribute to human welfare.  Anything is costly, no matter what its price, if it purchases nothing of importance or worth to human character and the power of personality.

If the price of our whistles are high and the use of the whistle small, the transaction is poor and the person poorer – today even as in the day of Benjamin Franklin.” 

                                                                              - from “The Art of Living Successfully” – April 1941

I am particularly convicted by the sentence "Anything is costly, no matter what its price, if it purchases nothing of importance or worth..."  Understanding that, it's tough to justify my next Triple Grande Light Caramel Caramel Machiato...  Does that really have importance or worth to me in proportion to the cost I pay for it?

Photo by stevendepolo