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DEAR ABBY:<\/strong> I spent the morning at a close friend\u2019s home. She is in her early 80s and starting to show some mental decline and memory problems. Her children are in their 30s and still live at home. Her husband is also in his 80s.<\/p>\n While there, I noticed how, at every opportunity, the kids or husband would make some \u201cinnocent\u201d remark about her hearing or mental alertness. It didn\u2019t take long for me to notice how these remarks went from harmless teasing to mean-spirited. I could see by my friend\u2019s expression that some of their remarks had hit the mark and hurt her feelings. She either played along with it or pretended she didn\u2019t hear it.<\/p>\n I made an early exit and proceeded to my next stop, where, to my dismay, the scene repeated itself with my own sister (also in her early 80s) as the target. Her daughter and husband were relentless with their teasing about her hearing, sight, word searching \u2014 whatever they could find to demean her (no, this is not new). But after the way I saw my friend being abused, I had to get out of there. I am ashamed for not speaking up at the time. Abby, what should I have done then and in the future? \u2014 LOUSY FRIEND AND SISTER<\/em><\/p>\n