Margaret Mead Quote

Our treatment of both older [people and children] reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, Go to sleep by yourselves. And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.

As quoted in "Growing Old in America" by Grace Hechinger, in Family Circle magazine (25 July 25 1977)