Written by Richard Kane   

The most recent, "What If history" was the postings on "What If President Kennedy had lived?" I like to add, "What If Senator Leahy had succeeded in creating a US Truth Commission?

After the Civil War, President Lincoln healed the nation in a small way his blanket pardons of Southerners for crimes against the US government during the Civil War, and with his healing Gettysburg Address. For South Africa, Mandela's Truth Commission was a huge improvement over what Lincoln accomplished.

Let's look for other places in the world besides South Africa, even if only a neighborhood, where people of different races, ethnic groups, or religions get along well. Let's look for even blocks where Shiites and Sunnis get along, Jews and Muslims etc.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=466438

In a US Truth Commission people would admit to wrong doings, apologize detailing what they did wrong and face no punishment perhaps a little minor restitution efforts, nothing so overwhelming as to not be easily doable. Someone like Dick Cheney could end up going to jail for refusing to reveal the details of what he did wrong or apologize, or perhaps even Dick Cheney may join the spirit like South African white former goons have done,
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/mar/05/leahy-rove-truth-and-reconciliation-commission
In a more usual US investigation guilty parties sometimes plead the fifth, and some are given immunity to make them talk, or be held in contempt.

Perhaps in trying to deal with various war crimes we might think of truth commissions instead of extreme punishments. Come to think of it even without the help of truth commissions problems are beginning to be solved by avoiding a lot of punishment and polarization, such as the UN with unanimous agreement of the veto holding nations of the UN Security Council removing chemical weapons from Syria and freezing, for a while Iranian nuclear fission efforts. Nelson Mandela has shown us that reconciliation rather than heavy punishment is the way to go.

Sadly this did not include the tension between native born and new immigrant. Even in South Africa there are mean hate crimes against immigrants, even firebombings of homes of new immigrants from Zambia from just north of South Africa. Perhaps the euphoria in South Africa over Mandela's legacy will spill over to a little tolerance for new refugees, as well,
http://www.france24.com/en/20130630-south-africa-immigrants-fear-surge-xenophobia-nelson-mandela

Each year we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday with service days helping those less fortunate than ourselves, perhaps each year in the US, South Africa ,and elsewhere Mandela's birthday will be celebrated not only by a few blacks and whites meeting together, but also Muslim and Jew, Shiite and Sunni etc,
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=466438

Heroes of late tend to be only in such fields as sports, and entertainment. Celebrating the memory of a positive hero will make the world at least a tiny bit better. This moment is a wonderful world party to enjoy.

Related insight,
http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/22-22/20613-iran-deal-and-removing-chemical-weapons-from-syria-precedent-setting-good-news