What we really like

What we really like -
In pop culture, life insurance agents often flow into an unflattering light, but I'll tell you one of my favorite stories can change your perspective.
My brother-sister Anne's mother died several years ago. She was 75 and had lived a long and full life, which included raising five children on her own. Her husband had died when the children were small-Anne was small at the time.
Fortunately his father had had the foresight to buy life insurance. He realized, as a young man, it was important to set up a protection for his wife and five children, in case something should happen to her. His wife, however, was not satisfied with the money going towards the payment of premiums. She would have preferred him to go to anything other household needs were urgent, as money was tight at the time. Her husband, however, persisted with the cover. Within six months of purchase, he was diagnosed with melanoma; He died five years later.
The young widow has raised five children and sent them into the world, what would have been an almost insurmountable task without the money from the life insurance.
While certainly a compelling story, it does not end there.
When Anne was a result of his mother, someone came up and introduced himself. It was the agent who sold his father's life insurance. It came 50 years after his "sale", just to pay his respects and to see how these "children" were doing.
But the meeting went beyond even that. The officer was able to tell Anne to her father and how he was to his wife and children were supported. Anne was moved to tears, as was the first time in her life she had met a friend of his father who could tell him a story about the great character of his father.
This is what life insurance agents really are.