by henigan

Created on: October 12, 2008

Should We Continue to Celebrate Columbus Day?
In studying history, we find many difficulties with the beliefs of our forefathers and lives they actually lived. For instance, many of our founding fathers disagreed with the practice of slavery in principle but owned slaves.
In Columbus, we have no such controversy. Whether we think he was right or wrong, he acted with complete regard to his own conscience. Christopher Columbus was a man who had absolute faith in his God, his ideas and himself.. The fact that he was wrong does not diminish that faith. Not many people, discoverers, explorers or inventors, can say they have not lost faith in their God or their own ideas from time to time.

Many will say that he was a man of his times. In reality, his idea made no sense. In the late fifteenth century, the people who could have financed his experiment knew the world was not flat. The question, as far as they were concerned, was about the circumference of the earth. The years Columbus spent trying to find someone to fund this trip is, really, a tribute to his belief in himself.
When he finally found financing, he needed to find sailors. These men may have believed the world was flat. They also would have believed in sea monsters. They saw the sea as a way to make a living and also something to be respected and feared. It could not have been easy to change these men's ideas, either.
Therefore, we find in Columbus a man who could relate to both the noble and the common men.
Columbus was not paid the amount that he should have been, Ferdinand considered the contact with Clumbus to have been with his wife. He did not consider himself liable for his late wife's debts. At the same time, he considered the new world his to invade and conquier. In this way, he was a victim of his times. Like so many men who made discoveries and had opinions, he spent his time in prison.
Finally, we know that Christopher Columbus was wrong in his estimations and that we do not live in Asia. So he was wrong and discovered the new world by accident. Microwaves, x-rays, penicillin and dynamite were all discovered by accident. This does not change the importance of the discovery or how they affect people's lives.
Columbus biggest fault was his inability to admit he was wrong. He didn't do this even after everyone else realized his mistake. But if he was capable of admitting he was wrong, he would have given up much earlier.
Christoper Columbus was a visionary whose determination brought about the society we live. There is no reason to stop honoring him!

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