Craig R. Brittain ...
We're not responsible for the actions of our government, nor is anyone responsible for the actions of any previous government, nor is anyone responsible for the actions of previous generations. People are only personally accountable for their decisions and obligated to learn from the past, not to feel sorry for the present. Government, historically, steals from everyone, with the only question being how much. In that regard, we've all been individually stolen from in this lifetime, and once we've sorted that out, that's when we can decide if we still owe anyone anything for hundreds of years ago. The problems of today must be fixed first - we cannot do that by feeling sorry or obligated. We must do it by recognizing that government is the real problem, and teaching real, actual history, a history of thousands of years of war in which governments created unnecessary conflicts.
We've tried teaching regret and defeatism for years now, that's why we're where we are now. We need to teach empowerment and justice by any means, not regret and defeatism based on the past. There will be plenty of time to make amends for the past once we have resolved the present and charted the future.