Convey Your Moral Values in Simple Wills

Reading Your Ethical Will will enable you to appreciate the vast diversity of ways to write an ethical will. For some people, writing memoirs or composing a lengthy ethical essay might be the way to go. Others, however, prefer to prepare an ethical will that is shorter in length; let's explore possibilities for these simple wills.

Some of the most concise ethical wills ever are also some of the most memorable. Jewish tradition holds that the first ethical will was given by God himself to Abraham. It is recorded in Genesis 18:19: "He must direct his children. He must see that the members of his family after him live the way I want them to. So he must direct them to do what is right and fair." And that's all! The first ethical will was one of the finest examples of simple wills ever made.

Here are some considerations to keep in mind when preparing a simple ethical will. Choose your words carefully. In a small space, you only have so many of them. Give each word as much power as you possibly can and enable the entire personal legacy statement to convey as much meaning to your loved ones as possible. Make the ethical will memorable, so that the people you care about have the incentive to read and re-read it, perhaps even to internalize its words and be able to recite them from memory.

When preparing simple ethical wills, it is thus quite proper to deliberate over every single word. Don't be alarmed if the writing process takes you an unusually long time; with one of the most important documents of your life, you want to be as careful as possible. Put some thought in the kinds of ethical values you want to impart and the kinds of ethical issues you want to address.

Superb ideas for simple wills can come to you in a quiet, relaxing place: a favorite room, park, or garden. As you rest and enjoy the scenery, do some reflection and introspection; you might just get sufficient mental fuel to inspire a wonderful personal legacy letter. Once you feel you have a sufficient idea of what you want to write, commit your thoughts to paper.

When writing simple wills, remember that revising a spiritual ethical will over time is perfectly appropriate. New experiences, circumstances, and realizations will come into your life, and you might want to preserve lessons from them for friends, family, and future generations. Make your simple wills concise, accurate, and meaningful representations of your true character and values, and they will have lasting impact for decades and perhaps centuries.