Columbus Blog #8

          When children in first grade learn about Columbus they are taught a rhyme to remember what he did; "Columbus sailed the ocean blue, in 1492.". They are taught about the three ships he took; the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. They are taught that he was a hero, discoverer of the great Americas, without him we would not be here, in the US. The teachers obviously must know of the dark side of Columbus, the one disguised by popular belief and good will. I wounder if they think about that as they listen to the children recite the rhyme they had been taught. Columbus Day is not a holiday that shows both sides of the pancake, and really when its thought of, perhaps should not even be celebrated. Yes Columbus was the first European to set foot in the Americas (other than Leif Erickson and the Norse, of course), but this one accomplishment skews all other knowledge of the expedition and its overall impression. In reality, if Columbus hadn't "discovered" America, surely someone else would have, and Columbus would no longer be considered a hero, but a villain, charged with cruelty and brutality paralleling that of Hitler and the Nazi party; the plundering of resources; the forcing of natives into slavery; and ultimately, the extinction of a people and their culture.