It’s not recommended, but it is in fact fairly normal behaviour for people to put off uncomfortable chores for another day.

We daresay that, for many people, making a will detailing how your assets should be treated or distributed after death falls squarely in that category. And as end-of-life therapist and caregiver Ms Patrice Dwyer tells us in the latest edition of the Sunday Observer, even outside of the very necessary last will and testament, failure to outline one’s preferred mode of burial can lead to serious complications for those left behind.

Ms Dwyer underlines that last point in a manner with which many of us can relate:

“A simple decision around burial, cremation…body donation…can create war in a family because one family member will say, ‘I don’t want them to burn my mother’s body, I don’t want this, I don’t want that’ or, worse, ‘What my mother’s body doing up at [The University of the West Indies] for them to cut it up…?”

All this, Ms Dwyer pointed out, could be avoided with proper conversations and/or a crystal clear statement prior to exiting this life.

And, while, as we have said, there is the annoying human tendency to procrastinate, it’s also very true that superstition and cultural myths have played significant roles in this reluctance to declare a legal will and testament or otherwise state intent. Some people actually appear to believe that to put such things on paper or even to speak it is to invite death — which, as we all should know, is inevitable.

Then comes the calamitous situation outlined by Ms Dwyer: “You don’t have a will, and then you die, and then [family members] start to fight over everything, and they can’t get the money anyway…”

Sadly, such things can lead to hostility, hatred, even deadly violence within families.

To be fair to our national leaders, the importance of striving to make sure one’s wishes are carried out after death has been emphasised from time to time. The necessity for people to make a legal will has been a pet peeve of Justice Minister Mr Delroy Chuck down the years. In fact, last April Mr Chuck told Jamaica that in excess of $55 billion was being held by the Administrator General and in bank accounts, largely because of the absence of wills and ensuing disputes over ‘dead lef’.

Additionally, the Government’s communication agencies, including the Jamaica Information Service, have played useful parts. Yet, we sense the need for a much more focused, sustained approach using agencies such as the Social Development Commission (SDC) which, from this distance, seems underutilised.

With the help of elected representatives, justices of the peace, officers of the court, police, and other respected local leaders, SDC officers could liaise with community groups in getting progressive messages across such as the relevance of a last will and testament.

In all of this schools have a role, for children are never too young to learn. Likewise, given the continuing centrality of religion for many, if not most Jamaicans, the Church and other places of worship should be encouraged to provide avenues for such messages as a matter of course.

It’s all part of what this newspaper sees as the importance of building community and cohesion as cornerstones of an orderly, peaceful, prosperous Jamaica.