So Prince Harry stopped off in Jamaica on his recent tour but one Jamaican was quoted as saying that the Prince shouldn’t have visited as there had been no apology for the trading in slavery that had taken place in previous centuries.
So who should apologise, to whom and for what? The Russians to their own citizens for Stalin’s pogroms, the German’s for the Holocaust, the British for the Irish famine? Whites for South African apartheid, Europeans for colonialism, Australians to aborigines, Americans to Native Americans and the Pope for the paedophiles within the priesthood? And that’s just the list off the top of my head, the list is endless.
If history teaches us anything at all, and that’s another completely separate discussion, it is that humans can be incredibly unfair, unjust, violent and carry out obscenities on others through their might, strength, arrogance and assumed righteousness – and it’s still going on around the world even now.
I don’t believe anyone can apologise for something they did not do themselves. So, I don’t think a German today owes an apology to a Jew for something that happened in 1944, I don’t believe a British citizen owes me an apology for whatever their government sanctioned in the centuries they ruled Ireland. Do I think that the Germans and British should be aware of and acknowledge what happened and try to be sensitive to others sensitivities sometimes – well yes – but apologise…no I don’t think that’s right or necessary.
The supreme example of how to do this beautifully, with charm and yet absolutely acknowledging the issues of the past was the Queen in Dublin Castle last May when she said, “…It is a sad and regrettable reality that through history our islands have experienced more than their fair share of heartache, turbulence and loss. These events have touched us all, many of us personally, and are a painful legacy. We can never forget those who have died or been injured, and their families. To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy. With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all…”.
She could not apologise for something she did not do and over which she had no control, and so – “sincere thoughts and deep sympathy” – perfect! A masterclass in sincerity, acknowledging the past, awareness of sensitivities and saying enough to ease past wounds.
If we can’t move on without always expecting others to apologise for a past over which they had no control, then we become self indulgent in our historic pain – it’s not even our pain. It didn’t happen to us, how can we hold a grudge for generations now long gone? Do we wish it could have been different, better and less traumatic for our ancestors and countrymen, of course. But it wasn’t, that’s simply the reality…it is what it is. We can’t change it, so why hold on to it…move on.
Learn from history, and that way we can try to make things better for the future. It’s the best we can hope to achieve.
blarneybounce 