To be Rich

Since I was born in the 80’s, hearing the name Leona Helmsley did not quite ring a bell in my head. However, I could not pass up the opportunity to comment on the life choices of a woman who ultimately left a chunk of her billion dollar fortune to her beloved dog. After enlightening myself with a quick read on Wikipedia and MSNBC, I began to see more clearly how bizarre this woman really was.

It is hard not to believe that money really does make you crazy when discussing Leona Helmsley. Although money can have a positive effect on some, it seems that the prospect of having enormous amounts of money has unfortunately created a “monster” with Mrs. Helmsley. After all, would a woman who left half of her grandchildren $5 million each and the other half squat be entitled to the trophy for world’s best grandmother? In addition, it seems that Mrs. Helmsley adored her Maltese twice as much as her grandchildren since “Trouble” was endowed with $12 million in trust. However, it is nice to see that the majority of her wealth went to charities, where I am sure it will do some good.

I can’t help but wonder what happened in this woman’s lifetime, either in her childhood or adulthood, which made her who she was in the end. Perhaps her home was not full of love, leaving her with the feeling that the only love she could have was for herself. The only thing I really know for sure is that having a great number of caring and supportive people around is much more valuable than a great amount of money. Although it seems outrageous that someone would leave their dog millions of dollars after they die, I can’t help but smile because “Trouble” seems to have been Mrs. Helmsley’s true source of love and so what if the dog is richer than most of Americans?

(images from Google)