Before, we were all taught history through rose-colored glasses. We were told only the best qualities of the US Founding Fathers. Now we’ve gone in the opposite direction. Now let’s focus on the worst of our history.
Christopher Columbus is a good example. When I was little, our schools taught students how Columbus bravely sailed the ocean and discovered America. None of the atrocities he committed against Native Americans were ever mentioned.
Now we’re just talking about the atrocities he committed. That’s pretty much all today’s students are taught about Columbus. Columbus will be held responsible for all atrocities committed against Native American people. He is even held responsible for the Indian wars that the United States waged against the indigenous peoples here 300 years after Columbus.
What we need is a balance. We need to teach our children the good and the bad in our story. Today it is said that Columbus did not discover America because there were already people here. Yes, there were people here, but Native Americans didn’t know Europe existed.
It is also true that the Viking Leif Erikson “discovered” America 400 years before Columbus. But Erikson never shared his discovery with the rest of Europe. Columbus certainly did not know anything about Erikson and his explorations. Both Columbus and Erikson deserve credit for their discoveries. These were parallel discoveries made by America. A parallel discovery is when two people make the same discovery without knowing each other. There were many parallel discoveries between Europe and China before global communication was common.
With Columbus Day approaching, I think we need to realize the power of sailing over the unknown ocean.
Dave Norman
Durango
