The lyrics of an old gospel song kept running through my mind this week. “Memory is one gift from God that death cannot destroy.” On this weekend when the topics of both death and memory are so prominent in our minds, it seems appropriate that we have such a reminder - first of all that memory is indeed a gift from God, and secondly that while death cannot destroy it, there are other things that can temporarily cause its loss. The dreaded and dreadful condition we call Alzheimer’s disease robs our loved ones of their most precious memories. The secularization of our society is an even worse threat to the memories woven into the fabric of our nation because it could be prevented, and yet we as a people allow it to continue year after year. And then there is neglect, perhaps the most insidious pathway we can take that will lead us as a nation into a time of great memory loss as it pertains to our values and our morals. I use the word “insidious” because it m...