Mistakes. We all make them (because we’re human). The problem isn’t in making mistakes, because they can be incredibly effective teaching tools (although sometimes quite cruel). A major problem with mistakes is that we don’t learn from them. If we did, we would never make the same mistake twice. And imagine how much better our world would be were that the case.
Granted, some mistakes are easier to learn from than others. A child who burns his hand on a hot stove will rarely do so a second time. Relationship mistakes are harder to learn from; since two people are involved, the mistake itself is sometimes hard to identify or agree upon. And unfortunately, some mistakes present no learning opportunity, such as not surviving the attempt to negotiate a curve at too high a speed.
Additionally, some mistakes have worse consequences than others. While some might be mortified by committing the faux pas of using the wrong fork at a formal dinner, most would agree that it is quite minor in relation to neglecting to report income on your tax return. And don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you don’t get caught, it’s not a mistake. A mistake is a mistake. Period.
The mistakes that present the best learning opportunities are the mistakes of others. If not made by family members or friends, they usually don’t affect us directly and yet present the same learning opportunities as if they did, without the personal angst.
Life insurance presents one such opportunity. When someone offers little to no resistance, or even initiates the life insurance sale, it usually indicates that they have experienced firsthand the effects of life insurance. Someone close to them died, and they observed the survivors either having financial difficulties or not. Either way, they came to realize that it was life insurance, or a lack thereof, that was responsible.
When an obituary reads “in lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the John Doe Memorial Fund, which has been established to assist in the education of Mr. Doe’s children”, you can be sure that Mr. Doe had insufficient life insurance. Of course the supreme irony is that some of the good hearted souls who contribute to the John Doe Memorial Fund haven’t bothered to get their own affairs in order
So while it is imperative that we learn from our own mistakes, it is much easier and more efficient to learn from other’s mistakes. Make sure that your obituary doesn’t read like the one above.