We should judge ourselves first, then those who live among us. But it does not make much sense to judge people from centuries ago with the same standards. It was a different world. It was basically all wrong.
Where do we draw the line?
Christopher Columbus did some horrible things, but so did almost everyone with a little bit of power before the 20th century.
If we start destroying things from the past, we will not keep anything standing.
For instance, most clergy in the Catholic Europe were in favor of the Inquisitions. Should we then destroy all the Cathedrals and its mausoleums?
Also, many European Kings and Princes married their cousins, often underage and usually without their honest consent. Should we then destroy all the paintings of the royal families, that are now in art museums?
Moreover, most kings in history created wars to their own interests, killing thousands of people who did not really have a choice but to join their army. Should we destroy all medieval castles and citywalls? and all the sculptures of all the kings of Spain, France, etc?
What is more, in the Ancient Rome slavery was more than ‘normal’, was the basement of their civilization. Should we then destroy every temple that honored the Roman Emperors?
More recently, in the USA, George Washington, the Founding Father, had slaves. Should we also destroy his sculptures?
Christopher Columbus sculptures
Christopher Columbus was a self educated entrepreneur, an adventurer who took many risks to fulfill his ambition of traveling the ‘unknown’ world. For that, he won his place in history.
He also made things that today we consider absolutely horrible.
In summary, I believe that we need to accept that almost everyone with power, in the past, was despicable, and just try to be good people ourselves, in the time that is given to us.
