THERE ARE PEOPLE in the world who change
imaginations.Youcanfindtheminthemostunexpected
places. And right now, in the seemingly sleepy and
mundaneprecincts of housingfor theelderly,theyare
croppingupallover. IneasternMassachusetts alone,I
came across almost morethanI could visit.I spent a
couple mornings with the founders and members of
BeaconHillVillages,akindofcommunitycooperativein
severalneighborhoodsofBostondedicatedtoorganizing
affordableservices—everythingfromplumbingrepairto
laundry—inordertohelptheelderlystayintheirhomes.
I talked to people running assisted living homes who,
againsteveryobstacle, had stuckwith thefundamental
ideasKerenWilsonhadplanted.I’veneverencountered
people more determined, more imaginative, and more
inspiring. It depresses me to imagine how differently
AliceHobson’slastyearswouldhavebeenifshe’dbeen
abletomeetoneofthem—ifshe’dhadaNewBridge,an
EdenAlternative,aPeterSanbornPlace,orsomewhere
likethemtoturnto.Withanyofthem,Alicewouldhave
hadthechancetocontinuetobewhoshewasdespiteher
creepinginfirmities—“toreallylive,”asshewouldhave
put it.
TheplacesIsawlookedasdifferentfromoneanotheras
creatures in azoo. Theyshared no particularshape or
body parts. But the people who led them were all
committedtoasingularaim.Theyallbelievedthatyou
didn’tneedtosacrificeyourautonomyjustbecauseyou
neededhelpinyourlife.AndIrealized,inmeetingthese
people,that theyshared a veryparticularphilosophical
idea of what kind of autonomy mattered most in life.