Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Should we forget?
We have all taken history classes and learned about this country's amazing and mindblowing history. But lately I have been hearing many people say that we must work towards a better future. And the only way to do that is to forget the past. Forget that this land was once entirely inhabited by Native Americans who were cheated out of their land, and killed off by huge numbers and then the survivors were forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Even though this happened years ago, for many of them they still live in this exact same setting. When we refer to the Holocaust, many Americans say that we must never forget the pain and suffering that the Jews, Gypsies and Homosexuals went through. In a way, the Native Americans went through the exact same thing. Even in Sherman Alexie's novel we read, Junior referred to the reservations as internment camps. I personally believe forgetting is all about covering guilt rather than actually building to a fair future. Thoughts?
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I don’t think that we should forget the past; I think that there are certain events that have happened that people may want to forget and things that people have done to others that they can’t forgive them for. I don’t agree with everything that they have to done to other races in the past, like the way there were treated and forced to live in bad conditions and all the other things. As for the part that says “to move forward we need to forget the past”, we wouldn’t be where we are now if it weren’t for the events that have happened in the past. Forgetting the past isn’t going to make us move forward, the only thing that is going to make us move forward is people wanting to change. The past has very little to do with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we shouldn't forget the past, but we shouldn't allow it to keep us from moving forward either. I really think having a good balance between remembering certain events of the past and letting some of it go is important. It is east for us, who did not have to go through what the Native Americans went through, to say "forget the past and let's just move on" but for those who have suffered, and are still suffering, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to forgive us! However, to move on, both sides need to give in a little. We need to learn to understand what really happened to them, and not just ignore it since we weren't the ones who directly hurt them. And the Native Americans, and even others who have been a target of racism in the past, need to learn to forgive us. It might be easy for me to say because I didn't go through this, but I really think if we really want to move on and build a better future, this is what needs to happen.
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