Forgive & Forget

[Sangoma]

Unfortunately countries at war will resort to barbaric acts.

People associate concentration camps with the Germans, but it was the British that first used them, rounding up whole families, putting them in concentration camps and then burning their homes.

The British in India were not much better at times.

But, it was not the present generation that carried out such barbaric acts, so the unfairness comes in tarring the whole lot with the same brush.

I'm not convinced that America acts in the world's interests, and they are certainly not innocent of wrongdoings even today.

What about the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, and the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed, I would imaging that some Japanese would be hateful because of that.

Different cultures have different beliefs, and maybe some cultures don't see that remorse for a war time attrocity is needed. It does not mean that the present generation from that culture condoned the wrongs of the past, just that they are the past.

I understand that when you or your family are personally involved it is very different than me looking at it from the sidelines, but I think it would be to everybody's benefit if we could recognise these things for the terrible things they are, and work towards them never happening again, then our children and grandchildren won't need to have the deap seated emotions that some now have

[joebloggs]

i remember my Chinese friend telling me, how the Chinese were protesting, because the Japanese had changed what had really happened in WW2 in the kids history books at school a few years ago.

as for dropping atomic bombs on Japan, it ended the war, saving life's, but costing many life's, the Japanese would not have surrendered if they hadn't, the first bomb was dropped on the 6th of aug, why didn't they surrender then, the second on the 9th, and they finally surrendered on the 15th. more than 220,000 dead thou , and if they had not surrendered the Americans were planning to drop more bombs

as Russia had just declared war on Japan, were the Japanese trying to surrender to the Russians, but the Americans would never allow it ?

[Alan]

I would like a PS3.

Al.

[Peanutz]

Hatred and vengeance will not make you happy.

Why waste time to mull over it. Life is too short, there are more important things to do to make this world a better place for our children and the generations to come.

[andy17]

Unfortunately countries at war will resort to barbaric acts.

But, it was not the present generation that carried out such barbaric acts, so the unfairness comes in tarring the whole lot with the same brush.

What about the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, and the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed, I would imaging that some Japanese would be hateful because of that.

So true... almost all nations have a dark history - but that doesn't have to mean we condemn any nation's future generations. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" comes to mind.