Amen. =================================================== In a message dated 12/1/2002 7:35:36 AM Central Standard Time, chandler@firstva.com writes: > Subj:RE: [MFLR] Getting along with the Indians, etc. > Date:12/1/2002 7:35:36 AM Central Standard Time > From:<A HREF="mailto:chandler@firstva.com">chandler@firstva.com</A> > To:<A HREF="mailto:MAYFLOWER-L@rootsweb.com">MAYFLOWER-L@rootsweb.com</A> > Sent from the Internet > > > > Mark sent this directly to me as well as to the list. That may have been an > accident of whose address happened to be on one of the posts that went > through yesterday, but whatever his intent, my recent posts could certainly > be read, or actually misread, as ancestor worship. While I obviously find > a > great deal to admire in the Plymouth settlers, for the record, I agree one > hundred per cent with what he has said in this message and admire the grace > and economy with which he has expressed several complex ideas. > > When I posted a reply to the question of whether the settlers had stolen > corn my intent was to show that while in our time we would see this as > theft, they understood what they were doing as accepting a gift from God, > and just as we do not hold people accountable for breaking a law which was > not in effect at the time the act was committed we should judge the > behavior > of people by the prevailing standards of their time. The other side of this > is that we do write new laws when we determine that what was allowable in > the past was wrong, and this is the aspect which Mark very rightly accents. > My mention of Squanto was meant to be largely in this vien. Squanto was > able to let go of the past and act with justice and charity in his own > present. I don't believe we can change what our ancestors did, but we can > try to act justly in the present. I don't mean to try to speak for Mark > and > Muriel, but it seemed to me they are both saying that knowing the truth of > past events as best we can will reduce the bitterness and recriminations > which impede our acting justly today, and if that is what they are saying I > would like to follow their lead. > > >