Some time ago, I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Shakespeare as Life Coach”, which opined, among other things, that “Romeo and Juliet” was not so much about the two young lovers but about their families, who were so caught up in their own agendas that they were neglectful of the pressing, immediate needs of their children. Had they been acting as parents, they could have possibly averted disaster by providing advice and counsel to their children, around whom events were spiraling out of control.

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I learned about elder care the worst possible way, i.e., through personal experience. Legal education tells you how to plan an estate on the front-end and how to probate one at the back-end, but it doesn’t train you for the middle part, the minefield one faces in the general execution of one’s duties as the attorney-in-fact for an elderly person. Welcome to the brave, new world of hospital forms, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, government agencies, tough decisions, and misinformation. I figure there are maybe 30 ways to screw this up, and you are a genius if you spot 25 of them.

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“Casablanca” is a favorite movie of mine, and I am not alone. It consistently rates in the top ten of the best movies of all time. But did anyone ever notice the ridiculous underlying premise that runs throughout the film? The movie centers around two blank letters of transit, “signed by General de Gaulle himself,” Ugarte explains. All Victor Laszlo and Ilsa Lund have to do is fill in their names. Then they can walk right out of Casablanca, no questions asked. No matter that Victor Laszlo has been hunted all over Europe by the Germans and is the de facto leader of the Czech Underground. “These letters cannot be questioned, not even by the Germans,” says Ugarte. 

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