As a small boy, I longed to spend time talking to the Playboy, but he was hardly ever around during my growing up years. He came visiting from who-knows-where perhaps once or twice in a year, and then he'd disappear again for months and months. It wasn't till I was in my teens when we finally lived together for the first time under the same roof. By then the Playboy was almost like a stranger to me. Beyond that point, I spent many years trying to get to know the man and figure out what's going on in his head. Alas, I failed to make much progress up to now.
There was a little conversation I had with him many years ago about life insurance. You see, the Playboy had never had a life insurance in his entire life. At one time, he was earning quite well, and he could have easily bought one, yet he chose not to. That is of course his choice, but I was rather puzzled by his reason for not having one—he said he did not like the prospect of his wife and children benefiting from his death! A very extraordinary notion that reflects his selfish nature. He is one of those creatures born into this world to live solely for himself; to live his dreams and his ventures; to reproduce and then does not spend a moment to ponder about his responsibilities for his offspring. What can I say, decidedly, he is a unique character!
Anyway, I had my life insured since I was in my twenties. And when I became a daddy almost 11 years ago, among the first few things I did was to buy a few more insurance policies as well as start an education fund for my daughter.
It's strange that people always say that buying an insurance is meant to be as a "preparation for the unexpected", yet we all know that everyone of us will fall ill and die one of these days. The only unknown element is when? So actually, it's not really something "unexpected" that one is preparing for!
Apart from death, I have myself insured for illnesses and cost of treatments. It scares me a great deal to think that my family members will have to suffer and sell everything they possess to pay for the cost of my treatment. That is why I made it a point to buy life and medical insurance as soon as I could.
Nevertheless, I suspect many people, though aware of the urgency of having life and medical insurance, do not act urgently to have one. Of course there will be other more urgent matters to spend the money on; insurance can always wait! And if you are like the Playboy, "buying insurance" is not even found in the "to-do" list at all!
A friend in his thirties, seemingly fit and very active in sports, became ill recently and hasn't regained consciousness since about a month ago when he suddenly collapsed during his training to prepare for an ultra trail marathon. A month ago, if anyone had told me that this friend could fall ill, I would probably have laughed out loud. But now, it breaks my heart to have been told that he is up for a long journey to recovery, if ever, and the issue of how to meet the cost of treatment and life support have now become critical. Friends and family members are putting their heads together to come up with something, but it won't be smooth sailing. At a time when everything seems to become more expensive, except for the price of kangkung, it will be very challenging for his family members!
I'm sharing this with my readers in the hope that you might shift "buying life and medical insurance" a little higher in your priority list because we can never tell what's gonna happen tomorrow or the day after.
No comments:
Post a Comment