Being rich wrecks your soul. We used to know that.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I watched it happen to my father as he got more and more money.

Reminds me of the children's story of "The Fisherman and the Flounder".

When my parents met, my father supported Adlai Stevenson and was a regular guy. When he started getting money, he changed.

My father became more authoritarian and more concerned about his social status as his doctor's practice developed.

His choice of cars, his choice of fancy and expensive hotels (The Breakers in Palm Beach), joining a restrictive private country club, his choice where he wanted me to attend college. He would have chosen my husband if allowed. (I'm not off-base here. He called my college against my protestations to tell them to move the roommate they had assigned to live with me, a girl from Vietnam.)

It got to the point where I became a liability to his status in his private golf club because I was not Town & Country material or conservative enough.

I suppose he had the last laugh when he died: he had more than $1.5 million in assets and disinherited me and my two siblings. Instead he gave $35,000 to the neighbor across the street and about $1 million to four charities.