Wednesday, Lafayette, Indiana

The late Leona Helmsley was an infamous personality in New York City for several decades. She was the wife of the dynamic real estate magnate Harry Helmsley who was several years her senior. After Harry died Leona took over the family empire and soon established herself as an odious individual.

She was famously quoted as saying “only the little people pay taxes.” There were several reports of cruel, condescending behavior toward the people who worked for her and she was soon dubbed the "Queen of Mean” who put greed and profit ahead of caring for other people.

The coup de gras, however, came upon her own death when it was revealed that in her will she left twelve million dollars to her dog, a Maltese named Trouble. Uh huh. She arranged in her will for the dog to be taken care of in the highest fashion. The pet’s caretakers referred to its status as a "doggie protection program." Say what!?

These days Trouble’s food is prepared by a professional chef who feeds the little creature by hand. She is pampered and loved the way a beloved child or grandchild would normally be treated. In contrast to the care she felt for her pet, Helmsley cut two of her human grandchildren out of her will and ignored her great-grandchildren. This is as crude and hostile as it gets.

People like this define the bottoming out of character and social responsibility. It raises the question for many of us who speculate “how would I behave if I became incredibly rich?” In most cases we imagine that we would live out a balance of enjoying our new largess while behaving with generosity toward those with less resources. So when we observe someone of wealth behaving with such contempt that they would leave their dog a multimillionaire it cuts into our sense of decency.

Nothing against the little dog, but I’m guessing that little Trouble would be fine with a lousy half million dollar estate and some decent raw food. The rest of the dough should have gone to family or to Darfur.

Leona Helmsley - a bonehead cretin in death as well as life.

Don’t be like her.