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Was Christopher Columbus a bold adventurer,
expanding human horizons? Or a venture capitalist who happily
threw open the doors to an orgy of genocide?
It's interesting to me that the more comfortable we are with America, the more inclined we
are to lionize Columbus. And it's this comfort part that bothers me.
Because whenever we take the popular, comfortable point of view,
we don't get anywhere. Or the other way around—whenever we venture beyond the horizon
of what is acceptable, we always discover something, usually by accident.
Remember, the most widely held view in 1492 was that the world was flat. And, let's not
forget, discovering America was an accident. For what he set out
to do, Columbus might be considered a failure. But he certainly made the most of what he
encountered.
Just goes to show that no discovery is a failure, unless we have our minds made up about
what we were going to find. So if your mind isn't made up about Columbus, applaud your own
spirit of discovery.
And to see just how open-minded you are on the issue, try taking the opposite
side of the argument. If just for today. You'll baffle your friends, maybe even open their
minds. And you're sure to discover something about Columbus.
Think of it this way. Your mind is like your bed. You can't make it up while you're using
it.
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