Hey You, Yes You ... Why Don't You Have A Will Already?

Around 200,000 people die each year in the United States before reaching the age of 40. The majority of them die because of unintentional injuries. The second biggest cause of death is cancer followed by heart disease. Death is always something that happens to someone else, to people in the news, to the friend of a friend, to our neighbors and eventually to our parents. But, even though we abstractly know we will sooner or later die, to most of us the thought of it seems distant.

Ironically, the denial of death is a survival mechanism. In his book The Denial of Death, anthropologist Ernest Becker explains that human civilization is ultimately an elaborate defense mechanism against the knowledge of our own mortality. This fear was the foundation of every religion and dogma, the cause of wars, the root of every rise and fall of kingdoms and empires, everything that brought us here where we are now … But how does this affect our current life anyway? Or better said, how does this affect the life of people around us?

My cousin and his wife died in a car crash. He was 33 and she was 28. Now, almost a year after their deaths, the custody of their eight-year-old twins is still a very painful fight between the grandparents, the sisters and the brothers-in-law. Seeing this made me realize I desperately need a will, even if I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, so this wouldn’t happen to my son. And yet … I kept delaying it and delaying it until a some days ago when this article landed on my mailbox and I realized it was about time. It is crystal clear about everything. An ideal, very short 101 on how to make a will and what to do with it. I was unsure whether I should or not piq it, but it helped me and was important for me. Maybe it will be for you too.