The old, like the young, come in all varieties. However, differences aside, there are some things we can say about the old as a group. The old live in a different country from the rest of us, segregated by interests, by history, by physical health, by attitudes about mental health, and by shared trauma. They have in common three sets of experiences — they have participated in the events of the twentieth century, they have passed through the same developmental hurdles, and they now live in the landscape of old age.
— Mary Pipher, Another Country