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Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Memorial, was explaining to a TV interviewer why her remarkable work has come to have such a strong grip upon the emotions of the American people. “It’s the names,” she said, “the names are the memorial. No edifice or structure can bring people to mind as powerfully as their names.” She is right, and that’s why I’m ashamed of how poorly I remember other people’s names. I am also saddened that in this digital age we are as likely to be asked for our numbers as for our names.