McGrath, talking about what 'we' did - when our nation wasn't formed yet or before we were born to me in actuality refers to what "we humans' have done or considered OK to do. In that light we can indeed look askance at our history.


Objecting to 'finally' is combing the fine print indeed, John. 'Finally' to me has the right connotation.

I remember how appalled I was when the then-mayor of Los Angeles said in high dudgeon: 'Why, we started to prosecute race crimes in our community ten years ago!'

To me, the assumption that 'finally' getting around to combatting an injustice somehow makes OK what happened in the past is no cause for congratulation. A little humility wouldn't come amiss.

During the civil rights movement one of my brothers told me that he agrees with the aims of black people, but he said: 'They are moving too fast. We should do it little by little.'

I said, You mean, if the Amish were being discriminated against and beaten and not welcomed as an entity and the country finally realized that it was wrong, that you think they should remedy the injustices little by little??

My brother, incidentally, is very conservative. A nice guy but, you know, very conservative.