$144,000 dollars. That's a lot of coin. If you watch the Lifetime Network, it is certainly enough to entice housewives and husbands to do something really stupid, involving words like "plot" and "scheme." But is that how much my life is really worth?
Today I stared at this number on my life insurance policy for the first time in the almost 2 years since I started working for UCD Children's Hospital. As I stared at the dollar figure on my computer screen it occurred to me how difficult it is to quantify the value of human existence. This amount is in and of itself a large sum of money, but again I ask, is that really all I'm worth? Is this enough to make a difference for the person in my life I designate as my beneficiary. All of these are hard questions. To be perfectly honest they are questions I'd much rather avoid. Suddenly it hit me that perhaps the reason why so many of us don't stare at this number more often or even make the decision to buy a life insurance policy in the first place is because we are forced to acknowledge two monumentally difficult concepts: 1. Our own mortality and 2. The monetary value we should place on our own lives.
When you are relatively young, there is a tendency to look at such things as insurance as unnecessary extras. Why would I need to think about insuring my life when all I can imagine is how much more of it I have to live? The reality is though that life is nothing if not uncertain. We have no idea how much time we will be given and the idea of providing your family with a nice chunk of change upon your death is gift we can give during the most difficult and often unforeseen moments. Regardless of what you think your life is worth, be it 5, 6 or even 7 figures, in death we all leave behind bills. Because dying might be final but it sure ain't cheap. After our last breath is taken, there are still many details to be attended to by our family members. Beyond the gift of letting them know we love and appreciate them while we are still here, I think it's a real gift to take a little time and invest in some good life insurance. As unsettling as the task may be, I now know that minimally I'll be able to provide my family with some money to take care of any loose ends I could leave behind. And if I'm blessed with a long and fruitful life, including an Oprah-sized bank account rendering my life insurance policy unnecessary, then at least I have the peace of mind in knowing that it was there for my loved ones...just in case.
Life is a gamble after all, and death the only sure thing. It's better to make a small bet now that will pay dividends to those we love than force them to cash in their own chips to take care of things for us when it's all said and done.
