"Cast me not off in the time of old age"

Called to my attention by a Facebook friend: "Identity Is Lost Without A Moral Compass". This may explain why, although suffering from Alzheimer's for the last years of her life, my mother's personality didn't change. From the report:

What defines a person? Is it their memories? Their hobbies? Look deeper, argue a pair of researchers—into the soul, so to speak. According to a new study, kindness, loyalty, and other traits of morality are what really constitute someone's being. ....

"Contrary to what generations of philosophers and psychologists have thought, memory loss doesn't make someone seem like a different person," Strohminger writes. "Rather, morality...played the largest role in whether someone comes across as themselves or whether their identity has been swallowed up by the disease."

Identity Is Lost Without A Moral Compass - Pacific Standard