Rich bitches and leaving a legacy

Billionaire Leona Helmsley, hotel operator and real estate investor, died on August 20th, at the age of 87. The bulk of her estate, worth about $4 billion dollars (American), was left to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, $10-15 million dollars to her brother¹, and a few million to two of her four grandchildren. $12 million dollars she left to her white Maltese, Trouble – who is now receiving death threats.

It says the tiny bitch was whisked away under an assumed name after receiving about 20 threats.

- BBC News, “Rich US dog hiding after threats“

To put this in perspective, this is a dog “said to have earned a number of enemies due to its habit of biting”. Sure. There may be more to the story, but the Beeb’s light on detail other than to suggest that the dog is living well.

It reports that the “cost of Trouble’s security, medical care, chef-cooked meals and grooming was about $300,000 (£145,000) a year.” Which still doesn’t explain why $12 million was left to a dog. Dogs live, what, seven to ten years? Someone’s math was off, surely.

My husband and I have discussed what ought to happen to our stuff if/when we die, though as we’re both young and healthy, we figure it’s still a (long!) way off. If one of us goes, the other will assume possession, if both of us go at the same time, he reasons that as we’re dead, our stuff hardly matters to us anymore. We don’t have kids and we’re not planning on changing that, so he’s fine with the idea that our survivors can worry about what to do with it all. ²

I’m not so sure I’m ok with that. I’m an atheist; I believe when you’re dead: you’re dead. And yet…I’d like to leave something behind. Something ostentatious and absurd, like a monument, or library in my name would be nifty (however unfeasible). But some gesture that expressed something about what I took pleasure in and ensured that it endured in some way.

I suppose this gets to the heart of legacy-leaving. Legacies can take many forms, but whatever forms it takes, the intent is to be be remembered; we don’t want to feel that we’re “really” going to die, because if someone continues to honour something you took part in, it’s reassuring, some “part” will live on. (Surely?)

At the very least, I’d like to be remembered for more than a cheesy tag line³, rude title⁴ and some rich bitch.

Footnotes:

1. Depending on whether you trust the BBC or Wikipedia. [back]
2. We have two cats, but we’re not millionaires, so leaving $12 million to our cats in a will would seem a futile gesture. [back]
3. “Only the little people pay taxes” — Leona Helmsley. [back]
4. “Queen of Mean”. [back]

Psyche is the editor of ahrfoundation.org and the curator for the occult resource SpiralNature.com, Psyche also operates a tarot consultation business, Psyche Tarot. She has been published in The Cauldron, Konton, Tarot World Magazine, among other magazines, and her essay “Strategic Magick” appeared in Manifesting Prosperity (Megalithica, 2008).

Psyche's website is http://www.ahrfoundation.org.