To the Editor:
The Pew Research Center recently conducted a brief survey asking “What is a parent’s responsibility” in terms of what they leave the family as they age, and what is the responsibility of the children in the care of parents when and if it is needed?
Answers arrived from Germany, Italy, and the United States. What caught my eye was the question of the parent’s responsibility to leave an inheritance – a financial inheritance. While the study might resolve some curiosity, the question seems to be wrong.
I never expected my parents to leave us money. I never looked at any money my parents earned as belonging to me. My gifts were already received and they were the love, encouragement, and outright support they had provided for me during my growing up years.
Money always held a lower value in my life except where it could help others. My inheritance was the joy of living and giving that my parents taught me.
If the question was ever asked, “Do you think money left to children is the best we can do for them?” the answers might be considerably different. All my life I have lived as if all income was a gift and my job was to share that gift wherever it did the greatest good. If I won the lottery, every child in the family would get a share and my hope was they would share some of the gift with others in need.
Wealth is not measured in dollars. It is measured in love, joy, laughter and peace.
