Not If . . . When

When I moved to the U.S. I was impressed with the number of total strangers who visited my home to wish me well...they all sold insurance! One day my visitor was talking about the necessity to be prudent in the preparation for all possibilities. "If something should happen to you, Mr. Briscoe&md;" he started to say, but I interrupted with, "Please don't say that. It upsets me." He was a little startled, but tried again, "But with all due respects, sir, we must be ready if something should happen to us." "Don't say that," I insisted. He looked totally bewildered and said, "I don't understand what I said to upset you." "Then I'll tell you," I replied. "It upsets me that you talk about (life's) only certainty as if it's a possibility. Death isn't a possibility, it's a certainty. You don't say "if," you say "when," whenever death is the subject."