We tend to forget many things. For some of us as we get older the present seems less important than the distant past. Some uncomfortable phases of our lives eventually blur although hot feelings of anger against people who hurt us at the time made us want to strike out. “Forgive and forget” is one way to handle vexing matters that resurface to roil our peace of mind. Some forget the white hot heat that fuels a need for retribution. Some others are consumed with vengeance; constantly reliving the hurt and endlessly seething about long dead people assigned the role of enemies and criminals.

I read about a Hindu Temple on whose site a Muslim Mosque was built hundreds of years ago. The Mosque was on Indian land left over when Muslims left or were driven out after partition. Now the problem of trying to forgive and forget is exacerbated by Hindus placing statues in the Mosque and extremists who then destroyed the Mosque. Claims to primacy for a “holy” bit of land are not easily handled in the face of conflicting white hot belief of religious convictions.

A small holy war erupted over claims of ownership of the site. Seth, the son of Adam, was reputed by Muslims to have settled there. Hindus who had built a temple to Hanuman there on that spot had to accept a Mosque in its place. In recent times the clash over the destroyed Mosque on Hindu dominated land has become the focal point for violence. A new development is the use of archaeological interpretations of what took place centuries and thousands of years ago to prove the primacy of ownership of that land. Archaeology is not an exact science.

It is interesting to note that things once forgotten and thought buried come to life again during heat of elections in this country. Witness the haste in which Republican attacks are launched against the choice of Senator John Edwards of North Carolina as Vice President by the putative Democratic candidate, John Kerry of Massachusetts. Nothing about the candidacy of John Edwards has been forgotten (except by John Kerry).  The opposing political party and its contingent of wordsmiths have descended upon this political happening like maggots on road-kill.

I do not think the religious antagonists in India will forgive and forget soon. Witness the ongoing furor in Israel as a slightly different battle is contrasted in size and participants. Even though centuries have passed and the times are believed to be “modern”, religious beliefs make people kill each other. The Conservative Right that wants to impose their religious model on the rest of us will never let voters forget minute flaws in the two Johns who will head the Democratic Party. We tend to forget most things - but some never will.