Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Happy Columbus Day!

Happy Columbus Day!
...a day late!
I never understood why this was not a bigger holiday. The man joined the New World and the Old together forever. The fun thing about this holiday is listening to the Politically Correct Stormtroopers try to tear Columbus down. portraying him as an invader of a New World Eden.
Sorry, he wasn't.
No one knew what smallpox was and he thought he was in Asia. And if he did not land in the Bahamas in October 1492, someone else would have. The Vikings were in Newfoundland somewhere around 1000 and if the Portuguese could read maps, they might have realized they landed in Brazil in 1480. On the other hand, maybe they didn't. Like I said, they weren't the best with maps. And the Chinese might have been scoping out the West Coast as early as 1421.
And all the while, the Aztecs were ripping hearts out of captives on top of pyramids in what would one day be Mexico City and cannibals called the Caribs roamed the sea that would be named for them.
Columbus was one of the greatest salesman of all time and maybe the greatest captain ever. He was also a terrible colonial admistrator and was hauled back to Spain once in chains because of that. But he never ripped anyone's still beating heart out for some bloodthirsty deity.
Let's face it. No one is perfect.
Including self righteous politically correct adademics who can't fathom an argument or point of view different from their own.
We can't change the past but we can make the future better by treating others the way we would like to be treated.
Happy Columbus Day!

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