So, Columbus Day. It’s not seen as quite the cause for celebration as it was when I was a kid—though you notice we’re not giving up the holiday. I’m not all that old (though sometimes I feel it), but even when I was in elementary school, they taught us basic “facts” like everyone feared dear old Chris would fall right off the edge of the world if he sailed too far. Now, the historians have proven that an awful lot of people back in those days had already figured out that they were living on a spherical surface.
So, were our teachers lying to us back then? Or, are revisionist liberals trying to destroy a great American? In both cases, the answer is the same: Probably not.
Let’s face it: We learn new things every day, often causing us to re-evaluate things we already knew. We can be honestly wrong, and we can correct those mistakes without harboring any animosity toward those who believed the original ideas. That’s just the way it is with continually searching for truth rather than simply accepting the commonly held belief. We have to relearn some things and move on. I mean, heck, besides Columbus proving the earth was round, Pluto was a planet when I was a kid. Who knows what to believe any more?
