> For example, why was it/is it the "American" philosophy to render
  > "aid" to the "enemy" after defeating them or to not "reconstruct"? Why
  > rebuild Japan after WW II and not Germany after WW I? We have now kinda
I have suspected for a long time that our massive rebuilding after World
War II served a dual purpose.  1) It assauged part of our guilt over
dropping the atom bombs.  2)  We needed to do it to avoid another
economic depression like the one we encountered in the thirties.
  > sorta "won" the Cold War with Russia, is it America's "job" to get Russia
  > back on its feet again? Why, after we "won" the "Indian Wars", are "we"
  > (the collective, ubiquitous "we" which obviously does _not_ include you 
and
  > me) Americans still treating some Indians like they are the "enemy"?
Perhaps because the US was built on land stolen from the Indians; and to
truly acknowledge that is to be forced to face a part of our immorality
as a nation.  We must acknowledge that we, too, like Germany, intended
to commit genocide; and that we are also capable of intense evil.  As
long as the Indians were, and are, the enemy, the "Indian wars", and the
Indian deaths, are justifiable.
And it is easy to say, "That's not true, because I was not there.  It
was my ancestors who did it."  But we weep at the the pain of our
ancestors; and joy in their pleasures.  I have literally wept over the
Trail of Tears.  I have a young Jewish "almost child" who has wept over
what happened to her grandparents in the concentration camps. I refuse
to believe we can feel the pain of our ancestors, and the horror of
their lives; and not also be susceptible to feel shame and dismay over
our ancestors if they have done wrong.
                     Sondra
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 þ SLMR 2.1a þ GK> I stamped my feet and wound up in the post office.
--- Opus-CBCS 1.7x via O_QWKer 1.7 
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