Letter to the Editor. GT task. models www.nytimes.com

To the Editor:

At the age of 89, and recovering from two knee replacements, I am deeply disappointed in David Brooks’s column.

Mr. Brooks should walk down the halls of America’s nursing homes and see the number of elderly women sitting in the hall outside their rooms, staring listlessly into space most of the day, or hear their screams of “help!” at night, repeated again and again.

Even in upscale residences inhabited by the wealthy elderly, he could imagine what it would be like to live day after day, night after night, in the same environment, encircled by one’s aging, feeble and dying peers.

The elderly in this country are essentially invisible. We have little role in society. Much of our time is spent looking after our aging bodies. We no longer drive (if we are smart!) and are locked into television’s drivel for entertainment.

I know that I am luckier than most, still in my home, with a partner of many years, blessed with so many younger friends and loving children, still writing, sometimes even teaching.

But my heart bleeds for so many of my contemporaries, alone in a society that does not seem to care.

EDWARD W. WOOD Jr.
Denver, Dec. 6, 2014

To the Editor:

David Brooks and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, whose article in The Atlantic about not wanting to live past 75 he cites, philosophize about health and attitudes, but their approach through averages shows insensitivity to individuals who vary in so many ways.

Dr. Emanuel suggests that people over 75 will have little or no purpose so they should expend no effort to live longer. I am over 75 and still very much have purpose. Perhaps he is trying to hold down the national cost of health care.

Mr. Brooks suggests that elders have more empathy, knowledge and maybe wisdom. Yes, some, but many do not. Surely he has seen the stubbornness, the surviving hatred and the loss of perspective that too often accompanies old age, not to mention of those in need, physically, emotionally and financially.

I am pleased to be among those smiling, but I feel lucky, not typical. I wish these able observers had shown more sensitivity in their writing about older people.

DAVID SCHENKER
Evanston, Ill., Dec. 5, 2014