It’s election day in the United States. You know what that means? Don’t give away your power.
Vote!
As Patti Smith sings, People Have The Power!
Last week I re-posted to Facebook Ian Mortimer’s article from The Guardian listing the 10 Greatest Changes of the Past 1000 years. I think I added something glib like, “be the smartest person at the dinner party this weekend.”
But my brother, John, zero’d in on Christopher Columbus being the biggest change-maker of the 15th century and shared this comment:
Seeing Columbus as the big idea in the 15th century got me thinking that Columbus was really one of history’s greatest entrepreneurs. Up until he convinced King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to finance his trip westward to the East Indies, he had failed to get any backing for his exploration ideas. He was a damn-near washed-up middle aged Genoese explorer with one last great chance to grab the brass ring. That he got the backing he needed and grabbed that brass ring should inspire those of us who are middle-aged entrepreneurs seeking somewhat more modest objectives than finding a short cut to the East Indies. I get that he is a symbol of rapacious white European conquerors, but you have to admire his tenacity and self-confidence. Not many of us today would stay with our dream for as long as he did. Here’s to the mad dreamers among us: may one of us become a representative of a century in The Guardian’s next millennium wrap up.
I kind of love that.
