I have often wondered why we lose more than we inherit with inheritances. Why inheritances get lost between ego, greed and a false sense of rightfulness? When I am trying to clear my thoughts, I find it helpful to just browse through a dictionary to see  the ‘rational’ definition of a word. I thought it was interesting that Inheritance is synonymous with: bequest, birthright, heritage, legacy.

When you think of ‘Inheritance’ as a ‘birthright, heritage or legacy’, it is easier to understand why it carries with it the weight of generations. For some inheritance is just the transfer of tangible or material assets. But I think inheritance is not just an exchange of tangibles, it is the sharing and division of a loved one’s life and legacy. Sometimes an attempt to hold onto a bygone era, to keep alive cherished memories or to carry a piece of a loved one, long after they are gone.

I see most people spending their lives trying to accumulate, create or secure an inheritance for their children. Amassing wealth, position, titles, anything and everything which could possibly be passed on. I don’t know if it is the primal instinct to protect and ensure the survival of your offspring or is it just the propagation of one’s own ego and legacy.

But somewhere in this material division the intangibles: values, memories, and love get lost . Siblings with whom all your life you shared the intangibles: your parent’s love, your parent’s time, your parent’s lives, when the time comes to divide the tangibles you forget to share. Some even feel justified usurping others shares as their birthright, securing ‘their’ legacy for ‘their’ children, unknowingly creating a new cycle.

A cycle in which the individual will inherit material assets, but will lose loved ones, lose shared memories, lose companions of their young and old age and even lose the legacy. Just like many before them, their life’s efforts and strives become an Inheritance, an Inheritance of Loss….