Derek, You said: "The fact remains, that while it was a tragedy, it has tarnished relations between English and Afrikaans speakers since 1902 and is still a contentious subject and will continue to be so as long as there is still one Afrikaans molecule and one English molecule left in SA." It is not about being being Afrikaans or English, or even about the colour of our skin. It is all about being unforgiving and intolerant. As long as we can not forgive one another for what our ancestors did to each other, there will never be peace in this world. Enough said. Let me get off my soapbox before someone kicks it out from underneath me. Johan.

"Johan Dorey-Venter" wrote : > Derek, > > You said: "The fact > remains, that while it was a tragedy, it has tarnished relations > between English and Afrikaans speakers since 1902 and is still a > contentious subject and will continue to be so as long as there is > still one Afrikaans molecule and one English molecule left in SA." > > It is not about being being Afrikaans or English, or even about the > colour of our skin. > > It is all about being unforgiving and intolerant. As long as we can > not forgive one another for what our ancestors did to each other, > there will never be peace in this world. > > Enough said. Let me get off my soapbox before someone kicks it out > from underneath me. > > Johan. I couldn't agree more. History is history and, while we should be aware of our pasts, we should not be ruled by them today or in the future. How many of us can truly claim that not one of our ancestors ever did something unpleasant, even shocking, to someone else ? John B Leic., Eng

----- Original Message ----- From: "John Brown" <jdhb@johndhb.me.uk> > How many of us can truly claim that not one of our ancestors ever did > something unpleasant, even shocking, ......> > John B > Leic., Eng > John, and as generations come and go, feelings soften and one is inclined to at least forgive. Years ago my grandfather would have retorted: "Ja, like my cousin having been a handsupper and hanskakie during the Engelse Oorlog". I mean that was the worst you could have done to your fellow man in those days. But then one should see his attitude in context: He was forced to be present in Church Square in Middelburg in the Cape Colony when another cousin was sentenced to death for having been a rebel and Commandant of a Commando of Boer rebels earlier in the war, and that experience and the actions of his treasonous relative was never forgotten or forgiven. Fortunately time has its way to calm emotions down and it is now easier to look at these things as interesting but still tragic happenings in the family that one can talk about Regards Johan Morgenthal -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. We are a community of 7 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 57 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The Professional version does not have this message