Who is responsible for what your ancestors did...

Long before you were born or even thought of?

My ancestors. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Guilt - some of which, to a greater or lesser degree, anyone
with a conscience carries - is pointless - except as a learning tool.

I finally - (and... now that I think about... it it's been several minutes! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.])
came to the conclusion that (no matter whether I would sincerely like to apologize ! for those morons - or not) - there is not one damned thing
I can do to correct the past. Not mine; certainly not theirs.
Whatever was perpetrated several days, years ., decades and/or
centuries ago - is.
It is damned shame - but there it is. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

What I can do is see to it that NO ONE (on my watch, anyway)
does it again or anything new that creates the kind
of history that school children will wish to apologize to someone about.

I can do (and I do) my level best to make younger generations
understand WHY they must not do that - nor anything similar to it.
EVER... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Sorry... but ... generations my age and older ... ?
If they don't get it by now they likely won't.
I have NO idea what kind of idiocy was prevalent "then".
(No matter WHICH idiocy - or WHEN - or WHERE.
History is just full of various kinds of (apparently contagious!) lunacy.
(Apparently it wasn't clear to the 'perps' ( [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]) then - so no one can be
sure it is/would be apparent here & now.)
The beginning of U.S. history is littered with (truly) great men and
women who allowed some very startling screw-ups.
And, since I'm no Thomas Jefferson - nor a Ben Franklin, et al -
and I don't know anyone I think even "might be"... ? Yeah. Apparently,
it isn't all-that easy to "spot" it when someone(s) is/are smack in the
middle ! of a "possible lunacy about to take place".
Apparently sirens don't go off. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

All "we" can do is realize that even people you or I know - and admit to knowing [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] - well ... and some of them possibly "right next door"
("as it were") [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
are not immune and watch! for it - and SAY SO - to everyone..
And "we" have the benefit of "those guys" and hindsight!
and who were, (EACH AND EVERY ONE ONE OF THEM!) - extraordinary.

So... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] ... after surviving the incredulity of discovering (and eventually
coming to terms with - kinda...) the very real fact that "those guys" had reservations they weren't even aware of about "all men being created equal" :
"No."
And (hopefully [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] ) - not on my watch ! either. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

My ancestors are responsible for what they did, or didn't do.
Each of us is responsible for his own actions. It's called "personal responsibility."
(Although these days, that is becoming a rare thing ...
it's always someone else's fault or it's due to a syndrome or a "disease of the mind" ... "the devil made me do it" ... etc, etc, etc)
How can I be held accountable for THEIR actions, today? ... RIDICULOUS!
(Sorry, I am not a time-traveler and I have no time machine.)
I have to do the best I can in the here and now.
"I do the very best I know how - the very best I can,
and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the ends brings me out wrong, ten thousand angels swearing I was right would make no difference."
-- Abraham Lincoln