Mickey Rooney speaks out on elder abuse -- his own

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/mickey-rooney-speaks-senate-committee-elder-abuse/story?id=13037126

The video that accompanies this article shows Mickey Rooney, now age 90!,  testifying to the senate committee about the abuse he was subjected to by his step children.  It is obvious Rooney has all his faculties and it is very sad to hear the story of how his step children abused him for many years.  I am sure this is not an unusual story.  It is so easy in our society--where the elderly are not respected for the wisdom of their years--to kick them to the curb. They don't have the physical strength to defend themselves as they once would have and, as Rooney describes, sometimes it can come about in an insidious gradual way, where slowly but surely a person's independence is taken away from them by greedy, selfish relatives who have no empathy for the plight of the senior.  This is an article worth reading -- and a video worth seeing.  As a much-loved actor over many decades, and as one who gave us many moments of laughter and entertainment, Rooney deserved better.  If the elderly can't be protected and cared for by their own families, who can they trust?  To whom can they tell their stories when they are abused? This is an important issue to be brought before our government representatives, if only to make the knowledge of such abuse more public and widespread.