"When you first came to us, we did not know why you were sent by the Federation but we knew there must be a good reason. To us, nothing that happens is truly random. So we searched for the true reason you were sent. We did not find it until last night. Are you familiar with the Pueblo Revolt of sixteen eighty?" "I am. Several Indian tribes rose up to overthrow their Spanish overlords and drove them out of what is now called New Mexico." "Ten years later, the Spanish returned to reconquer the area. They were brutal. I would use the word, savage. They killed hundreds of our people. Thousands more were maimed. The name of one of the soldiers was Javier Maribona-Picard. Your ancestor." "I'm not aware of this incident or of the man you named, and this happened seven hundred years ago. I do not see what bearing it can have..." "That is why you have come to us. To erase a stain of blood worn by your family for twenty three generations." —Journey's End, Anthwara, Counselor Troi and Capt. Picard, Stardate: 47751.2, Season 7, Episode 20. The above quote illustrates how people sometimes think people should be blamed for the sins of their ancestors. Like the ancestors of judges associated with the the Salem witch trials of 1692, for example. But that really is nonsense. Sometimes though history does have an ironic way of righting wrongs. General Francisco Franco ruled Spain as a dictator from 1939 till his death in 1975. All the while it appeared the heir apparent to the throne, Juan Carlos, supported him. But when Franco died in 1975, people discovered Juan Carlos was actually a democratic reformer who turned Spain, the last of the fascist dictatorships in western Europe, into a modern and open democracy. There even was a coup in 1981 to restore the fascist dictatorship. And Carlos courageously opposed it. People usually associate the House of Bourbon with bourbonism, or extreme opposition to reform. King Louis XIV was the house bourbon. So was Juan Carlos (thru his mother Princess María).
