Virginia slumped back in her office chair, emotionally andphysically drained. She had known when she got in the agencybusiness there would be days it just seemed the roof was going tofall in and you could never catch up. Dad's dinner tableconversations over the years had made that clear. But she hadn'tplanned that such days would become not the exception, but therule.

Virginia heard a knock at her open door. There he stood, a bitgrayer and with a few more battle scars, but still the man whoraised her and created the agency she now stood to inherit—assumingshe could keep it and herself afloat.

“Hey, Dad! What's up?”

“Looking a bit run down on the road of life, there, aren't we,baby girl?”

Related: Read “Language Barrier” by ChrisAmrhein.

“Dad, please. Not in the office.”

“Oh, I know, don't want to embarrass the agency manager in frontof her compatriots, right?”

Virginia sighed. “Right.” Then she smiled ruefully. “Although attimes like this it is nice to hear some things haven'tchanged.”

“Always here for you, honey. What is it this time?”

“Oh, everything. Markets are turning tight—'hard,' as you callit—quotes are going up, clients are grumpy, the economy juststaggers along, and all this digital stuff is making my head swim.After taking forever to decide the agency should be on Facebook,now I'm told Pinterest is where it's at. And blogging is soyesterday; we need an agency hashtag, app and videos on YouTube.Isn't it enough to just sell insurance anymore?”

Dad laughed and dropped into a chair. “Just change some of thatdigital stuff to 'account development,' 'transactional filing,''paperless,' 'SEMCI' and '“direct mail,'” and it all sounds like 20years ago. Which is why I want you to read this.”

He handed her a few ragged and worn sheets of paper torn from amagazine. 

“What is this?”

“Oh, I know you only read things that come on an iPad thesedays. But if you'll go retro with me for a minute, I think it mayhelp lighten the load a bit.”

She unfolded the pages and began to read.

Dear Sir:

My supervisor says there is no suchthing as insurance anymore; it's all just financial services andcash flow. I think he's wrong. Will you please tell me if there isreally such a thing as insurance?

           Sincerely,

           Virginia

Well, Virginia, you've asked aninteresting question. Many people agree with your supervisor. Itseems lately that all the talk is about captives, financialinstruments, banks, alternative-market mechanisms, the Internet andcash-flow underwriting. It's as if insurance has become a bad wordor has just gone away.

We have become too cynical. We havedone it to ourselves, and for that grievous error I am deeplysorry. We talk about the words and not the meanings. We discuss theforms and not the results. We focus on the individual jigsaw piecesand ignore the picture on the box. We forget that Ben Feldman, thelegendary life insurance salesman, called insurance “the miracle ofpen and ink.”

Related: Amrhein's previous column, “ENOConfusion.”

Oh, I know many in our world aresuppressing a cynical grin. Just like your supervisor, they'vebecome so caught up in the endless and often trivial details thatthey've lost sight of the miracle.

And it's still there.

It's there when we look atreplacement cost coverage in a homeowner's policy and realize we'regiving a hurricane-ravaged family not just a new building, but anew home.

It's there when we look at acommercial liability claim and realize we're not just dealing withattorneys; we're protecting a business while helping an injuredparty to heal.

It's there when we handle a workers'compensation claim and realize we're not just calculating lostwages; we're putting food on an injured worker's table.

It's there when we settle anautomobile liability claim and realize we're not just paying a lotof money to a grievously injured mother; we're making it possiblefor her kids to go to college if she can no longer earn the moneyherself.

It's there when we pay a settlementto someone accidentally injured by an insured and realize we're notonly helping the injured person recover; we're comforting ourinsured who is grieving over having caused the accident.

It's there when nothing happens atall, but our insured sleeps better at night because we have givenhim or her that much less to worry about from the vagaries ofnature and chance.

It's there when we realize that ahomeowner paying $1,000 a year for a homeowner's policy on a$100,000 house will take 100 years to pay in the coverage limit—andthat's only Coverage A. To break even on a $300,000 liability claimunder the same policy, the carrier will have to collect premiumsfor another three centuries! Heaven forbid there also should be aloss-of-use claim!

It's there when we see a politiciancircling over a disaster area promising government money, and werealize that those funds will be a drop in the bucket compared withwhat insurance companies will pay to rebuild that community.

It's there when an insured pays $300for a personal-umbrella policy and realizes his carrier just openeda bank account in the insured's name and deposited $1 million thatcan be tapped into whenever a covered liability claim arises—evenif that's only an hour later.

People who do not see these asmiracles need to reset their cynic meters. They have been workingtoo hard for too long. Without insurance, our world would be adarker, more dangerous place. In fact, insurance is so crucial toour lives that if it didn't exist, we'd need to invent it.

I'm very glad you wrote. Thanks toyou, I'm reminded how great the industry I've chosen as my owntruly is, and how much better off we are for having it. Yes,Virginia, there is insurance. I hope this indisputable fact bringsyou some happiness this Christmas season, because that would maketwo of us.

Virginia looked up, clearing her throat. “Wow. That does putthings in a different light, doesn't it?”

Dad nodded. “When I first saw that article almost 20 years ago Icouldn't help thinking it was the kind of question you would askme. ' It has never been totally about markets, and marketing, andtools, or even policies. It's about how what we do affects livesevery day. Whether our clients always realize that or not, it'simportant that we do. You know how I feel about this business andhow proud I am you decided to join me. And on those days when itjust seems too much and the future bleak, maybe you'll reread thatarticle and it will keep you keep going– until maybe one day you'llfind yourself handing over a copy to Stephanie.”

“Dad, she's only six. Who knows what her future holds?”

Related: Read another Amrhein column, “WhoKnew?”

His smile literally lit up the room. “I remember thinking thatabout my baby girl.”

Virginia laughed. “Ok, but when that time comes it willdefinitely be a download to her iPad.”

“Agreed. Now, how about we lock up and stop on the way home foran eggnog latte?”

“I'm with you. And Dad?”

“Yes, baby girl?”

“I'm glad we still believe in miracles.”

“Me, too, baby girl. Me too.”