Model for Letter to the Editor

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