Some of my ancestors used to travel in long open boats to the coasts of neighbours, and burn down their villages, kill all the men, and take away women and any goods they wanted. I am not proud of them.
Others, living in large family groups, used to regularly raid neighbouring people, kill all the men and take off anything they wanted. I am not proud of them either.
You might think I am Maori and recounting the bad things my ancestors did, but I am European. The sea raiders were Vikings, and the family were Scottish clans not iwi. Either way, these terrible habits of our forbears are best forgotten, and their cultural habits also left behind us. My Scottish ancestors were driven out of their homes and off their land by the Enclosures Act which gave large holdings to privileged people who fenced the original people out. There followed a mass migration of Scots people to all corners of the world. Maori did not have this resolution of their troubles, although the great number of Maori that have moved to Australia in search of a better life are, perhaps, a small shadow of the mass movement of Scots out of their country.
The answer for we New Zealanders seems plain. We must, all of us, forget all the wrongs made by our ancestors and, with our children, look, and work, toward a better and more harmonious future. We must vigorously oppose those who try to gain personal advantage by resurrecting the ills of the past.

John Mills, Mt. Maunganui.