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People of advanced age, a constantly increasing group, represent the most neglected segment of the population in our youth-revering country. They experience an increasing isolation and exclusion in all activities. In older cultures, and even in the so-called primitive ones, the aged enjoy distinction, and are appreciated for the wisdom that comes from weathering the vicissitudes of life. Our culture depreciates the “old man” and the “old woman”; it extolls the virility and virtues of youth. Rarely is the aged person accepted as a genuinely productive member, without condescending forbearance. It is as though they are being tolerated for the while, until a more suitable, younger substitute can be eased in as replacement. With an attitude of sufferance, the old man is “given a break.” This state of affairs provides a reality point of departure for the suspiciousness usually viewed as a specific characteristic of the aged. A vicious cycle results in which the orneriness of the oldster becomes a reality point of departure for the rejecting attitudes of youth. Erickson sees the historical roots for this in our “frontier” psychology, wherein the slogan to move on to greener pastures quickly developed into, and remained as part of the cultural ideal. He thinks that the fear of becoming too old to be easily mobile has given “old age and death a bad name in this country.”
The attitude toward the aged in our young country is nicely demonstrated not so much in complete disinterest, but rather in the