What if?

As we inch toward fall those of us in Toastmasters begin to think about the upcoming Humorous Speech contest. While this is my favorite competition it is indeed the contest of a lesser god. The greater god smiles on the springtime and the International Speech contest. Those speeches are generally inspirational, tragic, sometimes both, but almost never humorous.

One of my favorite speeches from last springs competition was entitled “what if?”. It was a truly inspirational speech that painted vivid and moving pictures of the good that was done because someone had the courage to ask – What if? The speech was compelling and flawlessly delivered but at some point a rather mischievous thought entered my mind. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s the contrarian in me, but all those silver linings sent me in search of a cloud and before long I conjured up a “what if?” of a completely different sort.

I live in the part of New Jersey that’s dominated by Philadelphia rather than New York and when I first moved here from Long Island I was glad to be free of the endless and pointless Yankees/Mets and Giants/Jets debates. Sure there’s the Phillies and the Eagles but more than anything Philadelphia rings of all things Ben Franklin. For me at least this was a quantum leap forward. Franklin was, to name a few, a philosopher, publisher, inventor, patriot, diplomat, and founding father, so it is all the more ironic then that he is likely best remembered for flying a kite in a lightning storm. Which brings us to – What if?

What if the lightening struck Franklin instead of his kite? Would history have been as kind to him? Electricity may not have been understood at the time but effect of lightening on human beings certainly was. Would it be seen as a tragic consequence of a daring experiment or the comeuppance of an eccentric that tempted fate once too often? The larger question though is - would history still be the same? I think it unlikely that Franklin’s charred remains would have been a compelling force for Colonial independence. Without Franklin, would there have been an American Revolution at all? If so, would it have been successful or would we still be spelling color with an extraneous u? Could the fate of the greatest nation the world has ever known rest on the outcome of a simple – What if?

Fortunately events turned out as they did and Franklin’s legacy and honored place in American history are both secure. Thanks Ben.