MEMORY IS THE ANSWER<br > Sydney H. Schanberg<br > My father was poor growing up and when his hard work<br > brought him in middle age to a place where he was no longer<br > poor， his memory of those difficult years informed his life in a<br > manner that made him very good at helping others who were<br > down on their luck. He took care of his family first but he didn t<br > forget the others.<br > These thoughts have rushed upon me because he died a<br > little over a week ago， and when a parent dies we grope for<br > meaning. Moreover， in the jumbled， private days following his<br > death， the outside world--murmuring for attention--was also<br > discussing memory and morality.<br > Elie Wiesel， our teacher of the Holocaust， a child of the<br > concentration camps， was telling the President: ~This is why<br > survivors， of whom you spoke， Mr. President， have tried to teach<br > their contemporaries how to build on ruins， how to invent hope<br > in a world that offers none， how to proclaim faith to a generation<br > that has seen it shamed and mutilated. And I believe， we believe，<br > that memory is the answer， perhaps the only answer."<br > Speaking of the concentration camps， Mr. Wiesel said: "Mr<br > President， 1 was there， l was there when American liberators<br > arrived. And they gave us back our lives. And what I felt for<br > them then nourishes me to the end of my days We are<br > grateful to this country， the greatest democracy in the world， the<br > freest nation in the world， the moral nation."<br > Sometimes Presidents and policy makers， caught and dis-<br > tracted by their geopolitical balancing acts， seem to lose the<br > Copyright ~ 1985， by the New York Times Co. Reprinted by permission.<br >