Another Columbus Day has come and gone here in the US. Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean, without a doubt, opened up the indigenous population of North America to untold misery, suffering and death. That, unfortunately, is the legacy of European exploration. We obviously can't change these facts. But should we be celebrating it? That's an important question to ponder.

Thanksgiving will be upon us before we know it. Of course, few us here in America realize that the first official Thanksgiving Proclamation after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock was not about celebrating a bountiful harvest. In 1637, Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony proclaimed an official day of feasting to give thanks and honor the men of the colony who returned safely after having massacring over 700 Pequot Indian men, woman and children. No, we certainly aren't taught the whole truth in school.

Still, I'm a firm believer in the celebration of Thanksgiving, as long as we don't blind ourselves to the truth of our past. It's still a wonderful occasion to give reverence to all the things we should be thankful for in our lives, regardless of the ugly precept upon which the holiday was founded by our ancestors. We make of the day exactly what we choose to. The Pilgrims certainly didn't invent the concept of setting aside a time to give thanks, anyway. The Native Americans had such customs long before white Europeans landed on their shores, as well cultures all across the globe dating back thousands of years.

If what I've written here seems controversial to you, that's a positive thing. We should continually question our traditions, even if it makes us a little uncomfortable. So many of the historical icons, upon which we place on high pedestals, deserve to be knocked down.

Revising history is a highly volatile subject. Just suggesting that Columbus wasn't such such a nice guy will likely get you shouted down by ultra patriots who might strongly inform you that you can't apply the same standards of conduct and morality of today to past centuries. To some degree, I can understand their argument. However, we do ourselves no favors in honoring figures from our past that do not represent the values of today -- or values we aspire, to anyway. The controversial debates over Columbus Day celebrations will continue to spark outrage and heated demonstrations for many years to come.

I don't expect the holiday to vanish in my lifetime, any more than I expect the racist Andrew Jackson's - responsible for the removal and forced death march of the Cherokee Nation - image to be blotted out from the twenty dollar bill. If I had my way, we'd call all such historical figures out for what they were.

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