From: Julie Jirout >Tough luck, Julie and later from the same listmember: >But anyway, I don't mean to offend you, and I am sincerely interested in >understanding your point of view. Do you always begin attempts to understand someone else's viewpoint by jeering "Tough luck"? <snip> >If you feel justified in taking a somewhat moral highground as a distant >relative of a victim, then you must feel that it is appropriate for a >distant relative of a perpetrator to feel responsible for the executions. Again, this sarcasm indicates not an interest in understanding--simply an interest in saying why the viewpoint of Tom and others is not to be tolerated. >Can you understand the dangerous repercussions of this? How many distant relatives of slave owners are now responsible for the state of the inner cities? How many successful businessmen are now responsible for property that had been seized from grieving widows? Hmm, how many rich executives are now being prosecuted for stealing from shareholders? One might also point out that for some descendants, the sins of their fathers have meant more than for others. Many of the Rockefellers, for example, chose to become active in philanthropic work *because* they recognized that the originator of the family fortune was not an angel. Julie, you choose not to assume any sense of responsibility for what happened in the past. I think that's unfortunate. If we don't learn from the past, we repeat it. And I would think the first thing we could learn is tolerance--beginning with not jeering "tough luck" at someone whose ancestor was killed. Francine Nicholson _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx