Why might the author include this personal observation? Wandering the ice-mud streets of La Rinconada, one can't help but hope that this gold town's day are numbered.

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It seems that you have missed the given options for this question, but anyway here is the answer. This question is based on Wiesel's speech and he started this with a parable. So the primary importance of the parable that Wiesel tells is that, it explains how important memory is to Wiesel. This parable is a legend from Jewish folklore illustrating the importance of memory.  Hope this answer helps.