Judy Wilkinson

The two things certain in life: death and taxes. We grumblingly talk about taxes but are far more reluctant to speak of death. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins describes this universal reluctance in one of my favorite poems which I cite in part here: note especially the final two lines.

Spring And Fall: To A Young Child
Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving? . . . .
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

You read the announcement as the final item in every issue of the BC:

"If you or a friend would like to remember the California Council of the Blind in your Will, you can do so by employing the following language:
'I give, devise, and bequeath unto the California Council of the Blind, a nonprofit charitable organization in California, the sum of $____ (or ____) to be used for its worthy purposes on behalf of blind persons.'
If your wishes are more complex, you may have your attorney communicate with the Executive Office for other suggested forms. Thank you."

In fact, in preparing this message, I checked the summer issue of the BC so I could quote accurately: No Final Message! I checked the Spring issue: No Final Message! But it was there in the Winter issue. It turns out that in editing the spring issue, that announcement inadvertently got dropped and the error understandably was repeated in the summer issue.

My point is, we all read it but it goes straight out of our mind, and in fact, when it wasn't there, apparently no one even noticed, and if I hadn't needed the quote, I wonder if it would ever have been missed!

In the past several years, we have lost countless members, and not one remembered CCB in their final plans. A notice in our quarterly publication is clearly insufficient to encourage us to remember the council in our estate planning or in our wishes for what charities we would like our friends to support in our memory.

Almost all charitable organizations have a prominent way for members and friends to remember the organization in their estate planning. Most definitely, when our website is redesigned, we will provide an easy mechanism for members' (and their friends') wishes to be made known to CCB.

But frankly, we don't want to wait until a person's death to acknowledge them: We want to honor those who remember CCB in their estate planning while they are still with us. We will be announcing plans in the near future to support you, your family and your friends in remembering the CCB when you plan your estate. Those with few resources of your own can announce your intention to have us remembered by your friends and communities.

IF you have or plan to include CCB in your final wishes, don't wait for a refurbished website to inform us. Please feel free to discuss these matters with me or Paul Shane if we can assist you as we move forward.

To quote another one of my favorite poets, Andrew Marvell on this subject:

"At my back I always hear,
Time's winged chariot hurrying near."

{Editor's note: The "bequeath" paragraph is back where it belongs. And as a little bonus to my error, there is now a paragraph in the masthead about how to donate to CCB while shopping at Amazon.}