we shun helplessness, and when faced with it, bemoan our fate. We cling to notions of “independence”—it’s the name of our national holiday—as if it were an essential condition of all well-being. The last thing we want is to be robbed of power and placed at the mercy of others. Under any circumstances that’s a challenge. But in our society the most helpless among us are often consigned to a separate class: ghettos, “golden age” communities, hospitals, wards. They’re put or kept somewhere. The rest of us are freer not to face what they represent.
