The Ethical Will

I guess the best way of summing up what we're attempting to do with our various books is that we're trying to define and share our ethical legacy with you. 

Many do this through an ethical will; and, although we may have gone about it in a different way, we're doing the same type of thing.

An ethical will isn’t a new concept, but one that is rarely discussed around the dinner table at home or the water cooler at work… or in the doctor’s, accountant’s, or lawyer’s office… or even in the church parking lot.

An ethical will is used to pass on insight and love to future generations.  It can include family history and cultural and spiritual values; blessings and expressions of love; hopes and dreams for children and grandchildren; life-lessons and wisdom of life experience; requests for forgiveness for regretted actions; the rationale for philanthropic and personal financial decisions; stories about meaningful issues; clarification about and personalization of advance health directives; and requests for ways to be remembered after death, etc.

Many of us — as responsible adults — spend much of our time contemplating how to provide for our loved ones… now and after we’ve passed away.  We want to leave this world with the peace of mind of knowing that we’ve done the best we could for our families…

We work hard at creating our financial worth and then defining how it would be spent once we can no longer spend it ourselves.  We make time out of our busy schedules to meet with accountants and attorneys to outline such wishes.

Our self-worth becomes so tied up in how much money and property we’ve managed to gather around us… that it’s easy to ignore the essence of our “selves”. 

We spend so much time preparing our financial legacy that that’s all we see as having to give to our loved ones.

What else would you like to pass on to the next generation? 

Wouldn’t you like to pass on your ethical legacy as well as your financial legacy? 

Would you like to share the lessons that took you a lifetime to learn?  Aren’t such lessons just as valuable as the estate that we’ve accumulated over the years? 

Do you have silent hopes and dreams for your loved ones?  Are there feelings of love and forgiveness you want to share?  Aren’t these things much more valuable than the money and property we’re so desperately preserving for future generations?

It’s just something to think about; and something that doesn't have to wait  — until after you're gone —  to be shared...



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