Life’s large lessons

Some of the applicants write about losing their father, the main breadwinner, to a massive heart attack, finding them on the floor and, at the age of 10, being the one who calls 911 and tells their mother. Others write of losing a parent to cancer, being there throughout their mother's six-year struggle with the disease and holding her hand as she passed on. One writes of a parent's decision to choose drugs over them, noting that they don't feel hatred toward their mother, only a wish that she were still here to attend their baseball awards ceremony and high school graduation. Another writes of his father's suicide, which prevented the family from collecting on his life insurance policy. He fills his waking hours with work and school in hopes of becoming a doctor and helping to provide for his mother and nine siblings.

Many of the students write about how their lives would've been easier if their parent had adequate life insurance or life insurance at all. How that safety net could've helped them pay tuition, buy books and pay for housing. How no one in their family thought much about life insurance until the time came when they realized they needed it. And by then, as everyone in this industry knows, it's too late.

According to LIMRA, 30 percent of U.S. households have no life insurance at all and only 44 percent have individual life insurance. What's funny is that most individuals are aware of their shortcomings when it comes to owning a policy. In fact, 58 million people say they need more life insurance.

In all due respect for Life Happens, wouldn't it be great if there were no judges for the LIFE Lessons Scholarship, because there were no applicants, because there were no children dealing with the loss of a parent who did not own a life insurance policy?

Even in my eternal optimism, I am certain that will never happen. We can only hope the statistics on life insurance ownership improve. If everyone heard the stories of these scholarship applicants, I know they would.