Nothing makes one explore the implications of one’s own mortality like choosing a beneficiary.*
Don’t get me wrong: the open casket of a close friend or family member always provides a moment or
two of bracing clarity, but far too many of us are accustomed to granting the
dead their expected tearful due, then moving on as expeditiously as is decently
possible.
Sure, we hear the occasional grateful acknowledgement that there but
for the grace of
God go the rest of us, but most of us are disinclined to let the full implications of that reality really permeate.