The Shrinking Family. Older people had previously depended on their families--on younger people--for support in their "declining years," but suddenly that support was gone. Older people suffered as a result. Government programs could provide money at best, and never enough of it, hardly a substitute for a caring, loving family. Living past seventy became, for many, a rather bleak prospect, a time of loneliness, poverty and illness.

The Stereotype. The youth culture did another great disservice in stereotyping old people as chronically ill, unable to work, behind the times, slow-thinking, useless financial burdens on society. The idea that old people could actually fall in love or have sex with each other is embarrassing to many Americans, old, young and in-between.

Older Americans are Vital. Not one of these stereotypes is true, of course, certainly not the poverty notion. Americans over 50 own 75 percent of all American assets and spend half the money. A full 70 percent of these people own their own homes. They vote and are active in the community to a greater extent than young people. And they do fall in love and have sex with each other.

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