I always believed the statement 'those who do not know their history
are condemned to repeat it (Will Durant ?), but I am beginning to
believe the opposite is true.

Here in t.p.m and in other newsgroups it seems that history is
mainly remembered to foment hatred or to be used as a club. In the
history of my own people there are ample acts of shame, both done
by my people and done to my people. Since I was not party to any
of those acts, I refuse to accept blame for the evil acts that my
ancestors committed, nor do I direct hatred toward the descendants
of those who committed evil acts against my ancestors.

Will all of this discussion rebuild a single mosque? Will it rebuild
the Temple? Somehow I doubt that it will.

A post in another group, on the Bosnian war, asked us all to love
each other, that love would conquer hate. Sadly, I remember a TV
interview with a young woman in Sarajevo (sp?) who was as I remember,
a former olympic calibre contestant in the rifle shoot. She was now
trying to pick-off Serbian snipers. During the communist years she
had married a Serb, who was now fighting against her people. So it
seems that hate will conquer love.

Is there an odd chance that we might all forget past wrongs and try
and see how we might all live together? It's a damn small planet,
which we have come very close to turning into a radioactive ball,
glowing softly in space. We seem to have been spared that prospect,
shall we now bathe it in each other's blood?

Shalom, Salam, and Peace