Reading the recent article by A.J. Jacobs, a subtle and humorous point I gleaned is that it is a fathers job to embarrass one’s children.  Every father does it, every child endures it.  From showing too much PDA with one’s spouse, to doing dance moves from the 70’s to telling the “In my day, we walked to school uphill, both ways, barefoot”.  It is terrifying to our children that we once were cool, could make people laugh, have fun and channel our inner child.

The story shared here involves a man who takes an idea and walks in the shoes of the person who lived it.  To an extreme, to really experience what it was like!

In this case, the author of the article (and book) wanted to experience what it was like to live in the 18th century, before and during the time of the American Revolution.

Bestselling author and journalist A.J. Jacobs has found his niche in life. Rather than exploring an intriguing topic for an hour or two, let’s say — or a day, a week or a month — he goes all in for a year or more, coming out on the other side a slightly changed version of himself.

The author lived each day as if he was in the character of a 18th century man.  Kinda like Daniel Day-Lewis the actor, who similarly got in character for months for his movie parts by “becoming the character he portrayed” in the movie roles he secured (i.e. The Last of the Mohicans, Abraham Lincoln, Gangs of New York).

The author shares with us the most important lessons learned that he drew from his experiences over the 18 months.

Many of these experiences are important as we are in an election year.  Touching on the foundation that we have the honor, opportunity and obligation to vote, the article addresses many socially awkward points involved with political views of the day.

This is a very humbling article and sets the stage for what it must have been like for our founding fathers and the faithful followers who chose to change the way men and women were governed.  It also reminds us of the gifts we have living in “the land of the free and the brave”.

Please take the time to read this article and think about the observations, lessons learned and findings.  You will be a better (even more so) person as a result.

The article is published in http://www.foxnews.com

The full article is as follows:

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/new-york-city-man-lived-constitution-year-here-7-things-he-learned