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Originally Posted by Manx
I can't reconcile the inherent contradictions in those two statements.
We need to learn from the past.
Bringing up the past is divisive.
And this one hurts my head ...
It's bullshit to claim bringing up the past is an attempt to learn from mistakes because we need to bring up the past in order to learn from mistakes.
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Sorry, let me explain.
If you sit there and show how evil Columbus was and discount the good he did, then you do a disservice to the past.
It's like bringing up one side of slavery and not mentioning how there were just as many in the US at the time running the underground RR or fighting to abolish slavery. So if we listen to those who fight for "reperations" we punish not just the people who profitted but those who did fight for the rights of ALL MEN.
If you only bring up one side to show the evil then you cannot learn because you have to show the positive that was also gained.
WW2 yes the Holocaust was horrendous but from there we learned how one small group can control a nation and almost destroy a whole religious entity not to mention the world.
I just can't get into looking at only the evil and not seeing something positive to grow and learn from.
Too many use too much energy to focus on the negative only takes away any energy and value to learn how to prevent such things from happening again.
I am simply trying to say we cannot change history, we cannot just focus on the evils, or punish the progeny for the mistakes of their ancestors. It truly does nothing but bring up more hatreds. All we can do is learn from the past.
It's like me working with addicts.... those that find recovery and grow into more productive people with better lives are the ones that realize they made mistakes but instead of focussing on what evils they did, they learn from the mistakes they made and work hard not to repeat them.
I have yet to see someone that focuses on their negatives and their past in a negative way find recovery and stay away from their addiction. More often than not those who focus on the negatives once they do try recovery relapse and dive further and deeper into the addiction because of the guilt.
That is what happens when we only focus on history (such as the above on Columbus) in only negative ways. Negativity begets negativity and nothing positive will ever grow from it.
In many cases those who only focus on the negative issues of history are doing so because of hate, anger or a desire to create problems today. They are not interested in trying to move forward and build a better planet.