It fascinates me how little changes in the world. I realize all of you believe you're the answer, that none of us before you have ever seen the bad in our little world -- but we did.

My favorite author, and a towering intellect, Doris Lessing, wrote about all of the issues you think no one's noticed yet - and she was born in 1919. I challenge any of you to read all of her writings and maintain your beliefs. She rode the socialism/communism train almost from its inception, and came to see the emptiness of its promises (see The Sweetest Dream). She fought for rights for blacks growing up in what was then called Rhodesia (try the "Children of Violence" series), and was bitterly disappointed in its achievements, as much of Africa traded white dictatorship for black dictatorship, and nothing improved for anyone but the elected few (sound familiar?).

My favorite Lessing work, Canopus in Argos: Archives, posed a great question for all of us to consider on this front. The book ends with a huge meeting of youth from around the globe to put whites on trial -- all whites. Various groups of the youth charged whites with all of the historical crimes of the world. The youth had its advocate, and the whites had theirs. After a very long prosecution covering all of the sins of the world, the advocate for the defense rose to speak. He stipulated that all of the facts presented were not in dispute, and then asked a marvelous question: Given all that whites had done to others, why on earth did the other groups turn right around and behave in exactly the same way?

I posit to you that whoever does the sinning at a particular point in history, the sins are equivalent. The sin is still precisely the same, only the actors change. Perhaps all of us should spend more time considering this question, rather than tearing one another apart.