Blurts & Spasms

Answering the question: "Is material inheritance really a good thing?"

Thanks for the A2A Gustavo.

This is a difficult question from the considerations of perspective, as Jim George points out, and also depends on what is being inherited.

Personally, I think inheritance should be limited to personal possessions. I came to this conclusion through a number of observations:

- The horrible way many siblings behave towards each other when fighting over a deceased parent’s wealth.

- My own emotional treasuring of a few personal items I inherited from my father (a telescope he used almost every night, for example).

- The negative impacts I observed from inherited wealth on families while growing up (which ranged from a lack of motivation in life to a sense of entitlement to persisting guilt to an amplification of mental illness, substance abuse, irresponsible behavior and high risk behaviors).

- The problems inherent to concentrations of wealth (in terms of disproportionate and unqualified influence over other people, over social institutions, etc).

I would much rather see society provide support for everyone voluntarily, in egalitarian ways, through its institutions and support systems, rather than relying on transfers of wealth within families. This would allow everyone the same foundation on which to steer a course through life. Of much more importance, IMO, is the legacy that parents leave their children from the parental examples of character and life choices.

My 2 cents.