How Long is Long Enough?

[Brenus]

I had a long thought about this subject. And I just realised that the blame others Nations or populations for not forgetting or forgiving is a little bit odd.
I am a French leaving in UK and there is not one year without a TV series or show about the war against the French, celebration of Waterloo, Trafalgar (2 commemorations in 2005) or Agincourt. One of the most sold newspapers in UK is openly Francophobic. So, the perpetuation of certain memory is not foreign to our societies.
Then, we are not very comfortable as well with our past crimes. We debate a lot in this forum about History and who start what (there is again a thread about who start WW1) and positions are still touchy.
I, as an individual, never experiment a invasion or destruction on my country. However, I still feel anger when I see on a documentary the German Troops parading in Paris in 1940, and the German population celebrating Hitler for the revenge. Not that I will start a new war against Germany or Germans, but the feeling is still there. And campaigns like the “cheese-eater surrendering monkeys” from the recent past by the US and UK media didn’t help. And do note that France never fought against the USA (ok, a lot against UK). So the hate against the French in the USA is not based on real things but on a perception built by association with the UK history by media and politicians (as even Bush had to concede in a vain try to cure what his administration started, France was historically the first ally of the USA even before they existed).
So, can we blame the Chinese who really suffered of real aggression and rapes and slaughters from the Japanese to still have strong feeling against Japan? What time is needed to heal the wounds? From my French experience in UK, it will be never done as much it can be used to canalise and divert the population’s attention from real problems within the country, or when it can be used to raise the moral of a country…