Ethical wills have been much in the news lately.
For those unfamiliar with the term, an ethical will is a specific form of legacy letter in which a person passes on hopes and beliefs in much the same way that a legal will passes on material goods. An ethical will is a non-legal document.
Of all the people killed in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, it is estimated that less than a third of them had a legal will. Even fewer had ethical wills. While the financial details of a person's estate can be sorted out after that person's death, their hopes and beliefs are gone forever without an ethical will.
These newspapers have carried articles on ethical wills recently: Philadelphia Inquirer, Orange County Register (reprinted in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel), the Chicago Tribune and Montgomery Advertiser. (Caution: Newspaper links are notoriously fickle; these may not work by the time you read this.)
Nice job, Kathleen. Lots of people try their hand at writing for the Internet. Some are good writers; most are not. It's a particular joy when you find a site that's a delight to read. Kathleen Bell has just such a site. She writes a lot about her family - past and present - and she does it with such style and grace that you feel as if you've been invited to a chat in an old friend's home. I'm sure she won't mind if you drop in.
He said it. "If we want our stories to be known, we need to do it ourselves. We can't wait for other people to do it for us." - Wilbur Howard, founder of Lansing (Mich.) Area African-American Genealogical Society.
Just for fun. Click on over to www.anagramsite.com and plug in a few family names to come up with some interesting combinations to spring on folks at your next family gathering. (Example: Actor Tom Cruise comes out "So I'm cuter). How about you?
Flickr photo courtesy of BugMan50.
Thank you so much for the comment! I have subscribed to your newsletter. I love your website and business and thank you for the work you do!
Your work is so important. So many times in life, things better written down and remembered go unwritten and unsaid and are then lost forever.
Your fan,
Kathleen
Posted by: Kathleen Bell | July 23, 2007 at 02:01 PM
Welcome to Passing It On, Kathleen. I hope my readers followed the link to your site. It's well worth it.
Posted by: Larry Lehmer | July 23, 2007 at 04:08 PM