Votes or principle?

SOMETIMES, it’s wise to forget or at least to pretend to forget so that age-old divisions might be resolved.

Sometimes it’s best to temper memory with optimism and put harsh lessons to one side so reconciliation might be possible. During Good Friday peace deal negotiations, all participants, no matter how intractable, embraced “convenient fictions” so the greater prize might be secured.

The converse is also true — it is important never to forget the past but memory, often distressing and enraging, can haunt the future in a way that perpetuates hatred. Balancing these counterweights is the stuff of grown-up statesmanship.