Celebrating Columbus Day

We all know the story of Christopher Columbus’s journey to the New World. Where we once celebrated his landing on October 12 as a national holiday, in recent years the focus has been more on the negative side of Columbus’s legacy.

While discussion of those aspects have their place, I think it is time for us to focus on what Columbus Day should be – a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit and the spirit of adventure that would make America the greatest economic power the world has ever seen. Columbus was willing to risk his life and the lives of his crew on the premise that there were profits to be made by sailing west to the Orient. Never mind that he didn’t get where he originally planned, or that when he got back he had no idea where he had been. He had a dream and a plan. He got funding and backing, and he made it happen. Like many before and since, he was an accidental success, but it was his willingness to risk all for his vision that we should celebrate today.