For me, Mike's, Eva's and Naoki's replies capture well why I've found
important to break the silence.
Looking for "Memorial Day" in order to better understand your perplexity on
why I've supported Naoki's feelings, I've found the following text in a
web page devoted to the "Memorial Day". Look at the footnote:
"Among the list of conflicts, those involving this country [U.S]
is short only because the recorded history of this country, this
land, these people, only spans a period of a few centuries
The American Revolution (1775 to 1783) 6,188 Dead
The War of 1812 (1812 to 1814) 4,505 Dead
The Mexican War (1846 to 1848) 4,152 Dead
The American Civil War (1861 to 1865) 498,332 Dead (both sides)
Spanish-American War (1899 to 1902) 2,445 Dead
World War I (1914 to 1918) 116,516 Dead
World War II (1939 to 1945) 405,399 Dead
Korea (1950 to 1953) 54,246 Dead
VietNam (1961 to 1975) 58,167 Dead; 2,266 MIA+
The Persian Gulf War (January 16 to March 3, 1991) 293 Dead; 19MIA+
...
[footnote]
I apologize to both Native and Afro- American peoples for not
presenting the dates and numbers of their dead on this page.
Surely, these people are a part of this country's history whether
they died on these shores through the cruelty of western expansion
and slavery, in capture in their native lands, or in the cargo
holds of ships bringing them here, and their dead are no less
worthy of remembrance on Memorial Day. Also not mentioned were
the Cuba Conflict (1962), the Grenda (1983), and Panama (1989)."
http://www.geocities.com/~angel-pie/memorial/numbers.html
The footnote express the difficulties and controversies involved
in dealing with conflicts or wars within the official history of the U.S.,
such as Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee, as ramdom examples.
In the context of an internet list discussion list such as xmca,
or in personal message exchange, the issue is even more delicate, because
there are no clear cultural boundaries. As a consequence, the perspectives
and the ways history is seen by people with different backgrounds leads to
very different interpretations of either particular episodes or
statements.
The Memorial Day has a very specific meaning for you, and I
respect that. But when I read your quote, and checked in the
dictionary what the Memorial Day was, the first one that came to my mind
was WWII, mainly because you were addressing a Japanese, and that is the
common event in between U.S.A.'s and Japan's war history.
I'm sure that for Naoki, the meaning is not the same as for you, and he
has already expressed that. The borderline in between your point of view
and ours is that a change from a passive voice to and active one in
remembering those who died, implies in imposing the responsibility onto
the addressee instead of honoring the addressed. It was not the effect
that you intended, but it was the consequence, unfortunately.
I think that this type of misunderstanding is somehow unavoidable, but at
least we are talking about it, instead of turning it into a taboo subject.
I find great that we are being able to do that in this forum, although it
is somehow stressful.
Luiz
_____________________________________________________________
Luiz Ernesto Merkle merkle who-is-at csd.uwo.ca
University of Western Ontario voice: +1 519 858 3375 (home)
Department of Computer Science fax: +1 519 661 3515 (work)
N6A 5B7 London Ontario Canada www.csd.uwo.ca/~merkle