Columbus Day

Police Arrest 83 Protesters at Denver Columbus Day Parade
A quote:
"Denver's parade, which was started in 1907, has a troubled history of arrests and confrontations between Columbus supporters and detractors. Protesters have called him a slave trader who touched off centuries of genocide and oppression against native people."

Let's explore the other side of the story.

The Crimes of Christopher Columbus
"When Cortes captured the Aztec emperor Montezuma and his attendants, he would only permit them temporary release on the promise that they stop their traditional practices of cannibalism and human sacrifice, but he found that "as soon as we turned our heads they would resume their old cruelties." Aztec cannibalism, writes anthropologist Marvin Harris, "was not a perfunctory tasting of ceremonial tidbits." Indeed the Aztecs on a regular basis consumed human flesh in a stew with peppers and tomatoes, and children were regarded as a particular delicacy. Cannibalism was prevalent among the Aztecs, Guarani, Iroquois, Caribs, and several other tribes.

Moreover, the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of South America performed elaborate rites of human sacrifice, in which thousands of captive Indians were ritually murdered, until their altars were drenched in blood, bones were strewn everywhere, and priests collapsed with exhaustion from stabbing their victims. The law of the Incas provided for punishment of parents and others who displayed grief during human sacrifices. When men of noble birth died, wives and concubines were often strangled and buried with them. "

1492 and All That
"While some remarkable art and architecture was produced over more than a millennium of Indian civilization, there were no fresh impulses, such as had occurred elsewhere on the globe, that would lead to the development of metals and the wheel, or the training of animals for agricultural work. Whatever evils the Spaniards eventually introduced— and they were many and varied—they at least cracked the age-old shell of a culture admirable in many ways but pervaded by atrocities and petrification that should he repugnant to any modern person. Anyone who wishes to defend the rights of surviving Indian tribes and help preserve their cultures—two noble undertakings—must nevertheless he aware of what should and should not be retained from their heritage. A sentimental belief in the equal validity of all cultures leads necessarily to defense of such practices as sacrificial murder. "


Columbus and the Beginning of the World
"Conquest aside, the question of even peaceful evangelizing remains very much with us. Today, most people, even Christians, believe it somehow improper to evangelize. The injunction to preach the gospel to all nations, so dear to Columbus’ heart, seems an embarrassment, not least because of the ways the command has been misused. But some of the earlier missionaries tried a kind of inculturation that recognized what was good in the native practices and tried to build a symbolic bridge between them and the Christian faith. The Franciscans in New Spain and the Jesuits in Canada, for example, tried this approach. Not a few of them found martyrdom.

Many contemporary believers do not think that there was much need to evangelize. This usually arises out of the assumption that native religions are valid in their own way. It will not do, however, given the anthropological evidence, to make facile assumptions that all spiritual practices are on an equal plane. The early explorers who encountered them did not think so, and neither should we. For example, the Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes, no special friend of Christianity or the Spanish conquest, in the very act of admiring the richness of Aztec culture, characterizes the Aztec gods as "a whole pantheon of fear." Fuentes deplores the way that missionaries often collaborated with unjust appropriation of native land, but on a theological level notes the epochal shift in native cultures thanks to Christian influence: "One can only imagine the astonishment of the hundreds and thousands of Indians who asked for baptism as they came to realize that they were being asked to adore a god who sacrificed himself for men instead of asking men to sacrifice themselves to gods, as the Aztec religion demanded."

These articles combat some of the modern, liberal, politically-correct protesting of Columbus Day. In a nutshell, the natives weren't all as peace-loving and sophisticated as you might think, and while the European explorers weren't perfect men, the Church was overall very generous and protective of natives' rights.

Reason #4,325 to homeschool: You can teach your kids to appreciate the evangelization of the New World, and to defend the honor of Columbus and Cortes and the missionaries who shed their blood to spread the one true faith to the wicked pagans.

Happy Columbus Day! Celebrate by burning your copy of that stupid Pocahontas movie.

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Update: In a wonderful coincidence, I learned that the leader of the protest in the first story above, Russell Means, played the voice of Pocahontas' dad in the movie. Ha!

Blogging, Journaling, and Letter Writing

I have a very dear friend that I met back in college, and pretty much from the first time we spoke we were fast friends. And as fate would have it, the first time I invited her and her husband over to our home... her husband and Daddio knew each other from college marching band (they both played euphonium). Clearly the Lord was working to get our two families together, and it worked. Our friendship grew, and now they are the Godparents of Bubba!

Back to my friend, Littlebit (for my regular readers/commenters you might recognize her sign-in) and I began penpal campaign with one another. This was something we did for a brief time a few Lents' ago, but dwindled after the season passed.

We no longer live near one another, so emails and blogging have been our main source of contact for a couple of years now... with a long distance phone call dotted in there every now and again in our spare moments (ha ha ha ha spare time, um, we both have children and homeschool... those are RARE occasions).

About two months ago, the letter writing started up again. And I wanted to share with you what it is that I'm doing on my end of the penpaling... in hopes that it speaks to one of you who might have a friend who could use a letter, and in turn you would love to hear from them in this personal way. (I had a few friends back in high school, in our junior and senior year we would mail letters to one another... instead of passing notes in class. We always thought it was fun to get mail, and we were writing the notes anyway! And I just knew this would cheer up Littlebit.)

Instead of simply writing one letter then mailing it off, I have a notebook that I keep near me pretty much all day for jotting notes on (groceries I might need, a project that I want to do, a recipe I saw). It is divided into a few sections, and one section I designated for Littlebit. I write to her in more of a journel format. Most of the time each paragraph is a new idea... since I usually only have time for one paragraph at a time... I share with her about our day, about Bubba, my own gospel reflections... anything that comes to mind that I think might be of interest to her. I even doodle on the page, add stamps or stickers that might pertain to what I'm writing especially if they are girly and not something I could regularly use with my boys (harkening back to the old days when paper was decorated with painted images around the edges). I keep going for about a week... starting on a Monday and concluding the package on Sunday. In the envelope will be the letters, any articles I might've found, recipes her family might enjoy, I've even put in sheets of stickers that I thought her and her daughter would like to have.

And while she still reads my blog from time to time, this is a much more personal reflection of our lives... as are her letters in return to me. And while I rarely have time for our 2 hour conversations (which I truly love...), there are many hours of thoughts in each of our letters... and I don't have to worry about what I forgot to say when we spoke, I simply jot it down!

Do you have a friend that you wish you spoke to more? Send her a letter! There's nothing better than opening your mail box and finding a personal letter just for you!

The Meme of all Meme's

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) I didn't have any pets growing up and still don't so I will borrow the name of the pet of my best friend growing up.
Fred Yukon XL

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough White Macadamia Nut

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME:(first letter of first name, first three letters of last name)
S-Hig

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Pink Dolphin

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Leane Lake Charles

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)Hig-St

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Purple Dr. Pepper

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
George Walter

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Lynn Lee

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Burton Baltimore

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Fall Tulip

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)Grape Shirtie

14. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Water Magnolia

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
The Scrapping Sunshine Tour

Name Game

I've had a long week and two Benadryls. Decided to play along.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Bunny Stratus
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Americone Dream Peanut Butter
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first letter of first name, first three letters of last name)
A-Hig
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Beagle
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Allen Austin (funny, this was one of Nicole's names, but on a different question!)
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Hig-An
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Green Bourbon
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Bill Charles
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Allen Elizabeth
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Plummer Pittsburgh
12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Autumn Gladiola (that sounds gay...)
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Banana Cargo Shorts
14. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Burrito Maple
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
The Trombone Tornado Tour

Snaggle Tooth

Snaggle Tooth will now be played by Bobcat :-). This evening after a jiggle or two, Daddio was able to help the first upper tooth out of Bobcat's head!

Here is the proud Bobcat with the aforementioned tooth (in the baggy) and the gapping hole! Of course, we spent some time trying out the new gap and the funny sounds that he makes with words and letters. That had him rolling for a good while.

Awe... the little man is growing up!

Patrick Hughes

After a morning retreat put on by the Franciscian Friar's for the men of the parish, Daddio came home all a buzz about a video clip they had been shown.

It is the story of Patrick Henry Hughes. I'll let the video tell the story...



And from what Daddio told me, there wasn't a dry eye in the room... and I can see why.

Hybrid

What do you get when you cross a 5 year old Snookie, a zoo animal, and a beloved dragon slaying Saint?

Saint Curious George