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Comment from sender:
Hi, forwarding my latest article which I would like to share with you, direct
from The Star online.
Ling Suan
This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my)
URL: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/9/5/lifefocus/11648569&sec=lifefocus
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<span class="story_date">Monday
September 5, 2005</span>
<p><span class="story_header">Clean
legacy</span></p>
<p><span class="story_byline">By
TAN LING SUAN</span></p>
Through the years, I have heard from friends about how much they had to clear
up after a family member passed away.
An old friend told me that it took her six months to clear her mother's
stuff which included giving away her clothes and old spectacles to an old
folks' home. Another friend, a sentimental person at heart, took longer to
clear stuff after her sister passed away.
A recently widowed friend in
Such stories have encouraged me to wage a bigger war on my weakness in a
certain area - the throw-away mentality.
Yes, (like many of you senior citizens out there) there's a lot of
"sentimental junk" in the storeroom and several unopened boxes. They
keep accumulating and we keep ignoring them ("no see, no
worry").
A friend, more honest than most, one day said quite candidly: "Who
wants our old photos? They're not that meaningful to them." Anyway, I can
see that the present generation, with their digital gadgets,
already have lots of their own "garbage" by now!
And so, it has become a mission of sorts to me to try and reduce what I
may leave behind should anything untoward suddenly happen to me. I am not
talking about what's in a will. I am not talking about meaningful mementoes of
memories we have shared with family and friends.
This is a legacy of a different kind. I see it as a responsible action
that involves saving family members (or friends) the time and energy required
for the task of cleaning up when we are no longer around.
So let's get down to it:
<LI>Throw away old, dirty stuff that we would be ashamed to pass on to
anybody. If it can be recycled, do the necessary.
<LI>Start giving away books from your collection
to your children and grandchildren when they show interest in having them in
their own library. (Whatever that is left can be donated to the library of your
choice. I would recommend the National Library as there is a great need for new
and better books to be used for their mobile library.)
<LI>Look at your clothes, some of which have not
been worn for over 10 years! If you think they are good enough to keep for the
grandchildren in their fancy dress shows or games, put them away into a box labelled "Fancy Dress" and include accessories
that you can spare.
<LI>Kitchen items - we always have more than we need. So give away some
crockery or pots and pans to jumble sales - at least the cash goes towards a
worthy cause.
<LI>Photos - what will happen to our albums? I'm selecting my children's
photos to compile them into individual albums for them.
<LI>My personal files are all being saved into the computer. I will give
my children my password into these websites if in future they wish to access
them.
All that should keep me busy till my last breath!
The writer welcomes feedback. Please contact her at <a href="mailto:tlsuan@lycos.com">tlsuan@lycos.com</a>.
<p>
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