Concerns about Biden’s cognitive decline should be of utmost importance, but does it have to come in a package of degrading human dignity?
For old-time Torontonians, Harry P. Botnick was a legendary figure — though few knew that the P stood for Pinchas. He was a brilliant attorney and bona fide Galicianer. It wasn’t worth starting up with him — whether in English or Yiddish, he had the perfect one-line zinger in response.
Which is why it was so sad when Zaida began to forget. I’d regularly take him to the Viewmount Shul — of which he was president emeritus — for Minchah and Maariv, an experience that became progressively disheartening. He didn’t always recall my name. Sometimes he’d forget what day it was, or get confused as to which tefillah he was supposed to be davening.
Painful, isn’t it?
But here’s the good news. What did not happen is the Toronto Star plastering a picture of Zaida, looking thoroughly uncertain, along with jeering headlines mocking his latest blunder.
A review of the local TV stations revealed that they, too, neglected to air this story. Come to think of it, I don’t recall news outlets ever taking to the front covers to ridicule an elderly individual for undergoing a condition that is entirely out of his control.
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