Just two days after Michael Jackson’s death, vans were lined up around his estate to confiscate his belongings. His rent was paid, so what was the hurry? The man isn’t even in the ground yet! Why is it about a death that not only brings out grief but greediness?

If you’ve ever had a relative die, you know what I am talking about. Suddenly everyone is consumed with who gets what. Perhaps, people want to just insure that they get something-anything to remember their loved ones by. Or maybe we just want what we’ve always coveted-that dress, that living room set, the antique china etc. It is not the dead I am worrying about-they are dead they do not know what is happening, it is just the point.

When my father was in the hospital, not even away yet, I had to fight with people for his belongings. The man was still around and my father! Yet, one of his closest friends felt entitled to his things. I had gone to pack some of his things for him because I knew he would not be returning home and didn’t want my mom to have to go through his things on top of everything else she had on her mind. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very emotional process for me, seeing each thing brought back a memory and putting them away made me feel as if it was all truly over. While I was mid-packing, his friend came in (he did not know I would be there). My father had rented a room from this man and he felt that I should leave my father’s things for him to go through! I couldn’t believe this, my father was deathly ill in the hospital and this man wanted me to let him pick what he wanted from him. I don’t think so.I have never felt so offended in my entire life.

Yet like vultures around a caucus, everyone wants to battle for a piece. It is as if we forget the person and focus on their belongings. Is it the consumer embedded in us, tacky, greed, or grief? I know that grief is a very powerful emotion and process. It can make us do a lot of crazy things. But rather than discarding the person, why don’t we discard the mind set of who wins what in the will.