Growing up and going to school in the 1960’s and 70’s, we learned that Christopher Columbus discovered America. He proved the world was not flat (since he didn’t fall off the edge!) How much more detail we learned… we’ll not much.
Today, Columbus Day sparks controversies with some claiming he’s a hero for discovering our great land and others demonizing him for destroying “indigenous Americans'” way of life. So what’s the truth? This article on NationalReview breaks down both sides in detail and is worth a read:
But what are we to make of this Genoese sailor and his appointed day? Should we celebrate the man who led three little wooden ships across an ocean and changed the course of history? Or was Columbus a greedy psychopath who today would be vilified as a genocidal war criminal?
I can tell you for certain, there was never any mention of greed or genocide mentioned when I learned this part of history in school! Much was left to the imagination. Historians have been left to draw conclusions. But NationalReview author Mark Antonio Wright sums it up nicely:
Europeans, beginning with Columbus, treated the Indians pitilessly — that should not be whitewashed or forgotten — but, in the same way, we should not ignore the genuine good that has come down to us as a result of the course of human events — namely, the space for a unique idea to grow and flourish: the self-government of a free people, with an ever-expanding idea of who can partake of that promise.
Read the full article at NationalReview.
Photo credit jjsala
