Am I responsible for

what my ancestors did? Am I also responsible for what my neighbour's ancestors did?

My paternal great-grandfather was a ship's pilot and a marine cartographer. I am trying to imagine a scenario where, instead of bringing a ship safely into port, my great-grandfather was perhaps drunk and caused a ship to over turn. Perhaps the cargo would have been lost and, worse, people would have lost their lives. Fortunately we know of no such incidents. 

Imagine though that there was one and now our family was being sued by the descendants of the sailors who lost their lives. These descendants are now demanding financial recompense for the loss of their own great-grandfathers in an incident over which we had no control.

Or imagine that my maternal great-grandfather, about whom I know very little apart from the fact that he ran the mission, was now accused of raping an aboriginal girl on the mission he ran. What if a descendant of that girl was now demanding that we provide financial support for the present and future generations?

Now remember we have had no part at all in the actions of either great-grandfather. We have never met him. Perhaps the details surrounding the first incident are reasonably clear. There are the court and insurance papers and reports in the newspaper of the day. Some compensation was perhaps paid in accordance with the way such things were done at the time.

In the second instance suppose there is nothing more than a letter from my great-grandfather to another minister of the church at the time. It informs him of the allegations made against my great-grandfather and those allegations are denied. There is DNA evidence of some relationship but it could also be because one of my great-grandfather's children married an aboriginal woman and they had two children. It is their grandchildren who are now asking to be paid for what was done in the past.

Now all of this is of course simply imagined scenarios of what might have happened if such allegations had any basis in fact. My ancestors did no such things. But even if they had done such things am I now responsible? Must I apologise? What if I have children and they are relying on my financial support to finish school? Are they going to be denied the opportunity to finish school so that another family can be "compensated"?

There were terrible things done in the past and I am deeply grateful my family can find no instances of them being involved in the great atrocities of the past. Even if they were however I do not see how I can be held responsible for those actions now. I was not there. I did not even have the power to be indirectly involved through a vote to perhaps elect a member of parliament who decided the policies involved. 

You will now have realised what I am talking about of course. I really don't believe we should be offering "compensation" to the descendants of those who were wronged in the past. I do not believe we should be apologising to them. We can acknowledge the wrong doing but it should not involve financial compensation or apologies. Instead we need to look at who needs help now and the best way to give it as we understand things now. It may be another hundred years from now there will be people who will say, "That's not the way something should have been done" but they won't be responsible for what we did. 

Is demanding this sort of financial "compensation", especially if you are not the person in greatest need of help, any better than theft?