why?

some things really bug me, because i really don't understand the point of them. if i didn't invade ireland or eat missionaries, why the hell should i be apologizing for it? everyone involved has been dead for quite some time now, so it should really be a case of letting bygones be bygones. just like slavery here in america. was it a bad thing? definitely. but nobody alive today was either a slave or a slaveholder, and i really don't think we should be apologizing on the behalf of someone who most likely would not have apologized for their actions (since there was a time that it was considered perfectly normal to own slaves) to someone who was not affected (at least not directly, though you could argue about disadvantages to being descended from slaves) by the actions. if you do something wrong, you should apologize for it; if someone else does something wrong, it is up to them to either apologize or not, as they see fit.