She has entered a wonderful second childhood, once again able to love intensely and with brave imagination, once more able to just dream and play - but what is not wonderful about her state (anymore than it is about the state of true childhood) is that she is constantly being shushed and bossed about by those in charge. There is some sense in which she is more independent now than she has been since she was a young child, but she is losing it that independence. Her fragile independence is balanced with degradation, and the falling apart of her body. That seems to be the most worrisome trend of our treatment of elderly individuals - they are independent, and this is absolutely wonderful, but they buy their independence at a very steep price because as they age and become less capable of being independent that freedom from obligation becomes a new enslavement to those they've hired to help them. It seems there should be some way to assure that the dignity of senior citizens to determine their...

Perhaps there is some degree, however, to which such rights can never be assured to the aging "last" generation until they are assured to the growing "next" generation. It seems to me that there is a direct correlation between the way that children in one generation are treated and the way that the elderly are handled. The two groups have much in common. As long as it is perfectly legal to deprive the young of their rights to fall in love, follow their own interests and passions, associate with people of their choice, or make their own decisions (all of which are regularly abridged by parents and schools), one might expect that the same rights will be denied to the elderly who have entered a second childhood. Perhaps the question is not so much about how we treat the elderly with respect, but how we as a society will learn to treat all those that depend upon us with respect and dignified care.