To the Editor:
I am writing to say that Anzia Yezierska’s “A Thousand Pages of Research” [July ’63], was very good and deeply moving and, as nothing else I have read, to the human point in describing our new breed of “longevites.” . . . To someone like myself—not an immigrant, nor even the son of immigrants, the name and work of Anzia Yezierska remain meaningful.
Michael Blankfort
Los Angeles, California
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To the Editor:
Anzia Yezierska’s story . . . is not just a poignant tale of old folks but an air raid alert. . . . While there is yet time, are we educating our youth to live with dignity and creativity in their life of tomorrow?
Older adults like Anzia Yezierska and her friends were trained for roles in society which they cannot play today. . . . Age has closed the door to the world of work. Social Security, Old Age Assistance, and Welfare are their only source of income. Life is a humiliating, frustrating existence with fear of want a constant companion. For these people today and for our future we must determine what the basic rights are to which an individual is entitled: dignity? self-respect? food? housing? medical care? For how long and when is a person of value to society? While he is economically productive? culturally productive? socially productive? . . .
When a space ship lands on the moon, it won’t be an accident, it will be the result of years of concentration by the most brilliant scientific minds and an investment of billions of dollars. . . . What similar concentration of mind and money is being invested in . . . solving the problems we face right here on earth?
Gertrude Asinof
Short Hills, New Jersey
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To the Editor:
. . . I’m seventy-five, almost seventy-six . . . and so I feel entitled to contribute my twenty cents worth to Anzia Yezierska’s article. I thought it very interesting and thought-compelling. . . . Naturally, when one is young one does not think of old age in the same way as when one is a member of the “senior citizens.” (All these names for old folks are very symptomatic; everyone has to have a label, perhaps the computer is responsible!) But before we lose our identity to a machine I would like to voice my views. . . . In all this fuss about the “senior citizens” we lose sight of the fact that we are all individuals and we each have our own way of growing old, and chronological age has nothing to do with it; there are youngsters of eighty just as there are oldsters of forty. Among my personal friends I have both kinds, but I find that the person who has led a full active life need not go on the shelf when he reaches seventy. True, one does not have the physical energy of youth, but the mental capacity can be broadened, and generally is by normal, well-adjusted oldsters. . . .
Jessie S. Bloom
Seattle, Washington
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To the Editor:
I was greatly impressed by Anzia Yezierska’s article. . . . All too little is being said and done about the vast numbers of alert, capable persons over sixty-five who are barred by age from paid employment. If enough people cared enough, the “Hire the Handicapped” slogan that greets our eyes everywhere could be joined by “Hire the Older Worker.”
Hazel Bird
New York City
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