by Nancy Eckerson
We all would like to be remembered. Each of us wants to know that our life made a difference and that we will never be forgotten. Every one of us has gained valuable information, learned many lessons and hopefully found keys to thriving here on Earth. These insights can be shared in an ethical will – a composition designed to convey the essence of our personality.
An ethical will is a non-legal document used to share our values, beliefs and hopes for the future. “An Ethical Will bequeaths the values you cherish: knowing who you are; the importance of family; believing that anything is within your grasp; the importance of education and hard work; humor; taking time to enjoy life; and ‘the beauty part of it,’” says Barry K. Baines, author of Ethical Wills: Putting your values on paper.
An ethical will, a tangible link to our immortality, is an heirloom that expresses the uniqueness of each individual. Passed on from generation to generation, an ethical will gives our descendents a real sense of who we were, as well as where they come from.
The passing on of our beliefs is an ancient tradition. Over 3,000 years ago the Bible generously documented this custom. From Jacob’s deathbed proclamations to his twelve sons in Genesis to Moses’ farewell to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy, we witness early ethical wills. There is evidence of the ethical will tradition in the legends of many cultures. Most of the rich history of the Native Americans has been passed from generation to generation in the form of oral ethical wills.
I was born a decade after my Grandma Peg had passed on. I never had the honor of becoming acquainted with my father’s mother. As I grew, many people commented on how much I reminded them of her. We each spoke quickly, had a bawdy sense of humor and loved music. After my mom had passed away, while sorting through a box of her papers, I happened upon a handwritten letter.
“Dear Daughter, I wanted to try it and see how it sounded.”
I could hardly contain my excitement. This was the start of the first handwritten letter to my own mother, the blushing new bride, from my Grandma Peg.
I was awe-filled, holding a paper that Grandma once held. Reading her humor, line after line, I became acquainted with her in a much more intimate way. She even used smiley faces, the same symbol my dad incorporated in the letters he sent me over the years! I felt such a connection to my dear grandmother and that connection is one of the benefits of writing an ethical will. I do recommend that each person include one handwritten page with their Ethical Will, to acquaint generations to come with your actual script.
“The contents of ethical wills can be variable. In general, they usually address personal values and life principles, hope for future generations, asking forgiveness and forgiving others, and even burial instructions,” says Baines.
The benefits of writing an ethical will are endless. The process can offer you a feeling of direction for your life or a sense of completion. It is an excellent vehicle to elaborate on your final wishes. Not only do you leave behind a priceless document, but during the process of examining your life, you may well renew some of your old forgotten dreams, or even discover new hopes. Your ethical will could be the start of a new path for your life.
As I wrote my own ethical will, I discovered my priorities and was able to clearly envision the direction of my life.
Any time is the right time to write your ethical will, but there are landmarks in your life that will lend themselves to introspection, and therefore, be perfect occasions for writing or revising your ethical will. Several of these include: marriage, birth of a child or grandchild, the empty nest era, career changes, retirement, divorce, terminal illness or at the closing of a long life.
There are many ways to get started developing your ethical will from beginning with a blank sheet of paper to following an outline or using a workbook. Excellent resources are available to aid you in the process. In addition to a multitude of books on the subject, for the not-so-comfortable writer, there are seminars, workshops, and Web sites such as Barry K. Baines’ www.ethicalwill.com. Also, there are ethical will consultants who will work with you to develop an ethical will that reflects your personality and dreams.
Recently, while presenting a seminar for the residents of an assisted living community, I spoke about how the writing of an ethical will may rekindle the memory of a lost dream. I asked the audience to try to remember a dream from long ago.
“I have a dream,” shyly responded a beautiful woman name Maria. By the gleam in her eye, she appeared to have a delicious secret to tell. “I hope to someday visit Argentina to see where my dear mother was born.” At 91 years of age, Maria was once again aglow with life’s possibilities.
When deciding if an ethical will is for you, bear in mind, we are all put on earth for a reason, and every one of us is worthy of being remembered. You may choose to share your ethical will with loved ones now, while you are still living. Or you may prefer to attach it to your legal will, to be read after you are gone. Either way, you will leave behind a priceless treasure.
“There are stars whose radiance is visible on earth, even though they have long been extinct…” -Hannah Senesh
Getting Started
Here is a sample outline for the development of an Ethical Will. Simply use these suggestions for inspiration and start to write your own Ethical Will.
• Opening thoughts.
• Values and beliefs.
• Lessons and reflections about life.
• Your spiritual beliefs.
• Hopes for the future.
• Love.
• Forgiveness.
• Requests.
• Closing thoughts.
Google Buzz is a new service that Google has introduced to compete with Twitter. Buzz allows you to publish short status messages as well as pictures, videos, etc.
Unfortunately, Google has made some assumptions about the service that may impact your privacy.
I don’t like to read, but I like my privacy, just tell me what I should do!
- Log into GMail’s web interface. You may see the Buzz announcement. If you do, click “Nah, just go to my inbox“.
- Go to the very bottom of the GMail web page. On the second line from the bottom, in very small letters, you will see “turn off buzz“. Click that.
- Next go to your Google Profile page and make sure that “Display the list of people I’m following and people following me” is unchecked. This checkbox option is on the “About me” tab, third column next to the “Other names” field. Save your changes (”save changes”) button at the bottom of the profile page. If you don’t have a public profile, you can skip this step.
I like to read! Tell me more!
The following assumptions are made by Buzz.
Assumption: You want to turn on Buzz
When you first sign into the GMail web interface, Google announces Buzz to you and gives you two options: 1) Yes activate Buzz and 2) No just take me to my inbox. These options are misleading. The second option still activates Buzz and you will see “Buzz” on the left hand side of the GMail web interface. The “No just take me to my inbox” link merely bypasses the Buzz welcome screen. This is an issue because Buzz, by default, publishes some information about you that you may not want published.
Assumption: You want the world to see who’s following you and who you are following.
In order to use Buzz you must create a public profile. When you first create this, it will fill in your name and whatever photo/icon you associated with your account (you may have none).
Once you’ve created a public profile on your Google account settings page, then Buzz will automatically publish your followers and who you are following to your public profile. This is true even if you’ve filled in nothing but your name in your public profile. When you first create your public profile, Google sets all of the privacy impacting options to “off” (unchecked) but Buzz breaks from this tradition and sets itself to “on”. For example, if you’ve created a public profile, but only specified that your name be published, you might assume that that will continue to be the case. That assumption is wrong, as Buzz will add additional information to your public profile without you taking explicit action. Since Buzz is tied to your address book, you are in effect publishing a portion of your address book to the world — the portion of your address book you are ‘following’ or the portion that is ‘following’ you.
Assumption: You want all of your email contacts (and anyone else) to see your status changes
When someone with whom you’ve exchanged email in the past logs into GMail, they will see you as someone they can follow. They are able to follow you without your approval. When you post to Buzz be sure to mark your post as “Private” if you want to post it only to select members of your Contacts. The default is “Public”.
Summary and Additional Reading
Since Google has tied Buzz closely to email, you may carry some of your privacy expectations from email over to Buzz. Buzz, however, is different than email and you should be careful about allowing it to peek into your email content and address book.
You should read the Buzz privacy policy. Be wary of words like “may” and “opt out”. Those usually mean Google is going to assume you are granting them permission to do something.
This article discusses also discusses privacy issues with regard to Buzz.
Tags: Gogole Buzz
“Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.” (opensource.org)
So what really does open source mean? Open source refers to a type of software. This software is free. There are no license fees associated with it. Open source software is created by many people all over the world. They create the software for the pure enjoyment of it. They don’t make any money off of it. Yes that may seem odd to most people. Think of a hobby of yours, something you do just because you enjoy it. Whether it is sewing, painting, woodworking, etc. You do it because you enjoy it and don’t make any money off it. This is why people create open source software.
Open source of software has been around for many years. It is really starting to take its place in the business world and the academic world in the past year. It has been slow to become main stream because people were nervous about software that had little control over it. The big concern was security. How could something that had no company backing it be secure? As the software has evolved and proved itself, businesses started to take a second look at it. The bad economy has helped open source software take hold too. Everyone is looking to cut costs and software is very expensive.
There are two types of software – closed source and open source. Closed source is what you buy in stores or online. E.g. – Microsoft Office. Closed source software you are stuck with whatever they give you. You can’t change it. If you want changes you wait and hope they include it in the next release.
There are many advantages to using open source software.
1. Development – It stands to reason that something developed by a vast community will evolve faster than something created by a smaller group. There is no red tape with open source software. Open source software constantly is putting out new versions or fixing any issues. There are new features always being developed.
2. Whether it be workspaces, icons, security settings or anything else, open source will always lead the way when it comes to a custom user experience, for the simple reason that you are legally allowed and positively encouraged to tinker.
3. With access to code, the advanced user can streamline software or add to it while the home user can easily tailor their own software for their custom PC build without infringing on any EULA while they’re doing so.
4. Support – You would think being that there is no company behind the software that support would not exit. Just the opposite is true. You have an entire world of developers eager to answer any questions and help. You post your questions online and normally within a few minutes you have someone working with you.
Examples of open source software:
- Open Office – openoffice.org
- Amberdms Billing System – The Amberdms Billing System (ABS) is a billing system that also provides a number of useful accounting and business management functions. – www.amberdms.com
- Help Desk Software – freehelpdesk.org
- OpenProj – OpenProj is a cross-platform desktop project management application that paints itself as an alternative to Microsoft Project, including file compatibility. OpenProj features Gantt charts, network diagrams (PERT charts) and earned value costing. – openproj.org
Tags: open source, Technology
There are a few tips to help you get better and faster IT help. As a long time IT person I have heard so many times “Everything is down”. That is the worst thing you can say to an IT person. This will slow down the response time because we then need to figure out what is really down – is it the computer, email, internet, cant access files, etc. “Its down” can mean so many things. So if you take a minute and be very specific about your problem your IT person can address your problem much quicker. Below are a few things to ask yourself BEFORE you contact your IT person. It will save you and your IT person a headache.
1. Can I access the Internet?
2. Can I access my email?
3. Can I access my files?
4. What error message am I getting and what did I click on to get that error message?
5. Am I on wireless or hard wired?
Always be specific then your IT person can correct the problem right away. If you can take a screen shot of the problem or error that is the best. This way they can see the exact error.
Taking the the time quickly answer these few questions before you contact your IT person will drastically improve your relationship with your IT person 
Tags: Technology
As we go into the New Year, many business owners are looking for inexpensive methods of connecting with clients. Many of us have extensive e-mail address books, often including rosters of organizations we belong to — such as the NAWBO Buffalo Niagara membership directory. Use them…just remember to create your own distribution list (it’s usually not considered proper e-mail etiquette to use an organization’s listserve). I prefer to put my e-mail address in the “to:” section and all the e-mail addresses I am sending to in the “bcc:” section. If you use an autoresponder like AWeber or 1Shopping Cart, people have the option of opting in or opting out. That is more for your business and customers though, not sending out a message to fellow NAWBO members, or whomever is on your distribution lists. Whether you are sending an e-mail directly to a group of customers or fellow members of an organization, be sure to respect requests to be taken OFF your e-mail list. Remember your own user experience when you receive e-mails from anyone. If you receive too many e-mails that are not relevant to you OR are ALWAYS trying to sell you something, does “delete” sound familiar? Remember to be relevant and don’t be afraid of criticism as you stay connected (my recommendation is not to over connect via e-mail). Leaders are usually criticized…get used to it as you lead, and delegate whenever you can. But don’t delegate your message…that is your own.
I know people have been using Skype for a long time. I am a newbie to it and I cant say enough about it. I have doing a lot of travel to Canada where my cell does not work. I was looking into cell phone plans for CA but they were very pricey. I decided to give Skype a try. Last time I used something like this was with Yahoo many years ago and the voice always was delayed or broken up. I have to say I am stunned but how good Skype is. It actually sounds better than my cell at times. Very clear and no delay at all. I can even hear by dogs barking in the background when I was talking to my mother. My dogs were running around the house trying to find out where I was because they could hear my voice so clearly. This is a great way to talk to people out of town or out of the country FREE! If you have a web cam you can see the person too.
Skype is a free internet phone service. To use it you need to go to their web site and create an account. Then have the other party create an account too. If both people have an account it is completely free. Just need to have internet access. Once you have an account you download the software to your machine. Set up takes less than a minute. Once the software is loaded you can then search for people by their name or Skype user ID. You can add people to your address book. Once they are in there you click on their name and click call. That is it. The other person sees you are calling and clicks answer. They you can talk just like you were on a phone. If you have a web cam you will be able to see each other too. Beats long distance phone charges and you get video! Great way to keep in touch with the kids/grandkids.
As for business this is working great for me. I can still call my clients even when I am in the oil fields of Alberta! If the other person does not have a Skype account you can still call them. You will just be charged a very low fee to call a non-Skype line.
I highly suggest checking it out – http://skype.com/
Tags: skype, Technology
Facebook can be a another way to market your business/organization. There is a down fail to using Facebook, it is time consuming. If you are going to use it or any other social networking tool you have to commit to investing the time into it. You need to post at least once a week to make it work.
So how can Facebook help you? You can use Facebook to promote your events, new products or services, news, awards, etc. You could post a “tip of the day” on Facebook. You are looking for Facebook not to help you sell but to develop name recognition. By getting your name out there and people recommending you, your sales will go up. Facebook is not a selling tool.
You start by creating a business site on Facebook. Keep it separate from your personal site. Then send your business site to all your friends in your personal Facebook account. Then their friends will see they are fans of your business and they can become fans and so on. This is viral marketing.
Tags: Facebook, Web Design
