Gene H. Norum haggar35@hotmail.com ----Original Message Follows---- Subject: Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebrate the modest Vikings Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 23:43:06 -0400 baltimoresun.com: Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebrate the modest Vikings To all you true Norums: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebrate the modest Vikings By Garrison Keillor October 12, 2006 Oct. 12, the traditional Columbus Day, is a day to reflect on the nature of celebrity. Columbus was a pirate and tyrant who sailed off and bumped into the Bahamas, had no idea where he was, and to his dying day believed he had reached the Indies. By the time he arrived in the New World, America was old news to the Vikings. They already had that T-shirt. Five hundred years before, the Vikings had been sailing the Atlantic with confidence, making new friends and influencing people. Thorvald Asvaldsson sailed to Iceland in the 10th century with his son Erik the Red, after they'd been banished from Norway for manslaughter - if you've ever been in an argument with Norwegians, you probably considered manslaughter too - and from Iceland, Erik explored the icebound island to the west, which he named Greenland, for promotional purposes. In 986, Bjarni Herjulfsson and his men sailed along the coast of New England. Around the same time, Leif Eriksson, the son of Erik the Red, sailed over and may have landed on the island of Manhattan. Did he come ashore and try to buy it for $23 worth of junk jewelry? No. And do we celebrate Bjarni Herjulfsson Day? No, we do not. The Vikings weren't into self-promotion, and Reykjavik was not a world media center at the time. The Vikings were not out to lord it over the Indians or bring democracy here or teach folks about Nordic gods. They were free spirits, sailors, explorers, so they left some carved stones here and there, relished the exhilaration of the voyage and the sight of new lands, and went home and composed sagas for the amusement of their friends and families. That arrogant fool Columbus, who demanded 10 percent of all the gold the Spanish stole in the New World, got the holiday, the nation's federal district, a town in Ohio and another in Georgia, a major river in the Northwest, and a university in New York. But who cares? Scandinavians don't. They celebrate Columbus Day as we all do, by going to the sale and saving 30 percent on towels and bed linens. And by covering the roses and putting the lawn furniture away. Their history after Leif and Erik and Bjarni has been tangled, of course. The Norwegians suffered under the Danes and then the Swedes. The Danes suffered under the delusion that they were French. The Swedes suffered under August Strindberg and Ingmar Bergman, neither of whom was the life of the party. All of them suffered from the long, gray winters with twilight at noon and the lunches of fried herring and potatoes and aquavit and the general prohibition against raising your voice or driving pink Cadillacs. But Lutheranism urged them toward kindness, industriousness and self-effacement, and this is not a bad strategy for contentment. Look around today and you will find the Viking descendants, a calm and stoical and somewhat formal people, by and large, not given to extremes of fashion or chanting "We're Number One" or writing memoirs that hang out the family underwear. Walter F. Mondale is pretty much the prototype. He lost the presidency by one of the biggest landslides in history to an aging actor whose grip on reality, never firm to begin with, was becoming hallucinatory. Ronald Reagan was sort of the Columbus of our time, a better PR man than sailor, but so be it. Mr. Mondale is a buoyant man with a sense of humor who enjoys his life in Minnesota, where people are happy to see him, and when you do, you see that losing is far from the worst thing that can happen to a man. Far from it. I propose that we change Columbus Day to Bush Day, a cautionary holiday, like Halloween, a day to meditate on the hazards of ambition. We could observe it by going through the basement and garage and throwing out stuff we don't want or need. Also by not mortgaging the house to pay for a vacation, and not yelling at the neighbors, and not assuming that the law is for other people. A day to honor kindness, industriousness and modesty. Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard Saturday nights on public radio stations across the country.

Gene, What does this have to do with genealogy? Garrison Keillor, we must remember, is an entertainer and comedian. He makes his money mocking others. I enjoy listening to him for laughs but it's really sad when he loses facts, especially concerning this great country. Have you read any of Columbus' journals, writings, logbooks? I have. It was unfortunate that the men that sailed with and after Columbus did not have his vision, his integrity or his faith. Because they did not, they exploited the natives and historians have let Columbus take the brunt of all the evil things that happened to the natives and the new land. In reality, these things happened due to the weakness of the other men. I could fill this page with examples of Columbus' greatness but I won't but I will leave you this one quick quote: "When Muslim Turks conquered Constantinople in 1452, trade was cut with India and China, so Europeans tried other routes. During Portugal's golden age of sea power, Columbus sailed down the African coast and north to Iceland, hearing stories of Irish monk St. Brendan sailing in 530 AD to "The Land of the Promised Saints which God will give us on the last day," and Leif Erickson's voyage in 1000 AD to Vinland. Columbus read 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy's Guide to Geography, where a spherical earth had one ocean connecting Europe and Asia. Columbus corresponded with Florentine physician Toscanelli, who suggested China was 5,000 miles west of Portugal. On October 12, 1492, Columbus sighted what he thought was India. He imagined Haiti was Japan and Cuba the tip of China. Naming the first island "San Salvador" or "Holy Savior," he wrote of the inhabitants "So that they might be well-disposed towards us, for I knew that they were a people to be...converted to our Holy Faith rather by love than by force, I gave to some red caps and to others glass beads...They became so entirely our friends that...I believe that they would easily be made Christians." http://www.americanminute.com/ Thanks for sharing, but let's stick to genealogy on this list. Thanks, Teresa ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gene Norum" <haggar35@hotmail.com> To: <MNHENNEP-D@rootsweb.com>; <MINNESOTA-D@rootsweb.com>; <MNOTTERT-D-request@rootsweb.com>; <NORWAY-L-request@rootsweb.com>; <NDSDMN-L@rootsweb.com>; <DWade64986@aol.com> Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 9:47 AM Subject: [MNHennep] FW: Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebratethe modest Vikings > Gene H. Norum > haggar35@hotmail.com > > ----Original Message Follows---- > > Subject: Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebrate the modest > Vikings > Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 23:43:06 -0400 > > baltimoresun.com: Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebrate the > modest Vikings > To all you true Norums: > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebrate the modest Vikings > By Garrison Keillor > October 12, 2006 > > Oct. 12, the traditional Columbus Day, is a day to reflect on the nature > of > celebrity. Columbus was a pirate and tyrant who sailed off and bumped into > the Bahamas, had no idea where he was, and to his dying day believed he > had > reached the Indies. By the time he arrived in the New World, America was > old > news to the Vikings. They already had that T-shirt. > Five hundred years before, the Vikings had been sailing the Atlantic with > confidence, making new friends and influencing people. Thorvald Asvaldsson > sailed to Iceland in the 10th century with his son Erik the Red, after > they'd been banished from Norway for manslaughter - if you've ever been in > an argument with Norwegians, you probably considered manslaughter too - > and > from Iceland, Erik explored the icebound island to the west, which he > named > Greenland, for promotional purposes. > > In 986, Bjarni Herjulfsson and his men sailed along the coast of New > England. Around the same time, Leif Eriksson, the son of Erik the Red, > sailed over and may have landed on the island of Manhattan. Did he come > ashore and try to buy it for $23 worth of junk jewelry? No. And do we > celebrate Bjarni Herjulfsson Day? No, we do not. The Vikings weren't into > self-promotion, and Reykjavik was not a world media center at the time. > > The Vikings were not out to lord it over the Indians or bring democracy > here > or teach folks about Nordic gods. They were free spirits, sailors, > explorers, so they left some carved stones here and there, relished the > exhilaration of the voyage and the sight of new lands, and went home and > composed sagas for the amusement of their friends and families. That > arrogant fool Columbus, who demanded 10 percent of all the gold the > Spanish > stole in the New World, got the holiday, the nation's federal district, a > town in Ohio and another in Georgia, a major river in the Northwest, and a > university in New York. > > But who cares? Scandinavians don't. They celebrate Columbus Day as we all > do, by going to the sale and saving 30 percent on towels and bed linens. > And > by covering the roses and putting the lawn furniture away. > > Their history after Leif and Erik and Bjarni has been tangled, of course. > The Norwegians suffered under the Danes and then the Swedes. The Danes > suffered under the delusion that they were French. The Swedes suffered > under > August Strindberg and Ingmar Bergman, neither of whom was the life of the > party. All of them suffered from the long, gray winters with twilight at > noon and the lunches of fried herring and potatoes and aquavit and the > general prohibition against raising your voice or driving pink Cadillacs. > But Lutheranism urged them toward kindness, industriousness and > self-effacement, and this is not a bad strategy for contentment. > > Look around today and you will find the Viking descendants, a calm and > stoical and somewhat formal people, by and large, not given to extremes of > fashion or chanting "We're Number One" or writing memoirs that hang out > the > family underwear. Walter F. Mondale is pretty much the prototype. He lost > the presidency by one of the biggest landslides in history to an aging > actor > whose grip on reality, never firm to begin with, was becoming > hallucinatory. > Ronald Reagan was sort of the Columbus of our time, a better PR man than > sailor, but so be it. Mr. Mondale is a buoyant man with a sense of humor > who > enjoys his life in Minnesota, where people are happy to see him, and when > you do, you see that losing is far from the worst thing that can happen to > a > man. Far from it. > > I propose that we change Columbus Day to Bush Day, a cautionary holiday, > like Halloween, a day to meditate on the hazards of ambition. We could > observe it by going through the basement and garage and throwing out stuff > we don't want or need. Also by not mortgaging the house to pay for a > vacation, and not yelling at the neighbors, and not assuming that the law > is > for other people. A day to honor kindness, industriousness and modesty. > > > > Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard Saturday nights > on public radio stations across the country. > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MNHENNEP-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Gene, Here's a bit of genealogy with a bit of history. As you know, this country was built on a moral people and cannot exist without the people having morals if we are to have a decent place to live. The following shows how much influence just one man can have on his own family and descendants. Jonathan Edwards entered Yale College at age 13 and graduated with honors. He became a pastor, and his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God," started the Great Awakening, a revival that swept America, uniting the colonies prior to the Revolution. He became President of Princeton College. He was born October 5, 1703. Jonathan married Sarah Pierrepont, and, according to "A Study in Education and Heredity" by A.E. Winship (1900), their descendants included a U.S. Vice-President, 3 U.S. Senators, 3 governors, 3 mayors, 13 college presidents, 30 judges, 65 professors, 80 public office holders, 100 lawyers, and 100 missionaries. This same study examined a family known as "Jukes." In 1877, after visiting New York's prisons, Richard Dugdale found inmates with 42 different last names all descended from one man, called "Max," born 1720 of Dutch stock. Max was idle, ignorant and vulgar. His descendants included only 20 with a trade, 310 paupers, who, combined spent 2,300 years in poorhouses, 50 women of debauchery, 400 physically wrecked by indulgent living, 7 murderers, 60 thieves, and 130 other convicts. The "Jukes" cost the state more than $1,250,000 (this was in 1900, just think what it would have cost today!). http://www.americanminute.com/ Teresa ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gene Norum" <haggar35@hotmail.com> To: <MNHENNEP-D@rootsweb.com>; <MINNESOTA-D@rootsweb.com>; <MNOTTERT-D-request@rootsweb.com>; <NORWAY-L-request@rootsweb.com>; <NDSDMN-L@rootsweb.com>; <DWade64986@aol.com> Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 9:47 AM Subject: [MNHennep] FW: Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebratethe modest Vikings > Gene H. Norum > haggar35@hotmail.com > > ----Original Message Follows---- > > Subject: Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebrate the modest > Vikings > Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 23:43:06 -0400 > > baltimoresun.com: Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebrate the > modest Vikings > To all you true Norums: > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Forget that self-promoter Columbus - let's celebrate the modest Vikings > By Garrison Keillor > October 12, 2006 > > Oct. 12, the traditional Columbus Day, is a day to reflect on the nature > of > celebrity. Columbus was a pirate and tyrant who sailed off and bumped into > the Bahamas, had no idea where he was, and to his dying day believed he > had > reached the Indies. By the time he arrived in the New World, America was > old > news to the Vikings. They already had that T-shirt. > Five hundred years before, the Vikings had been sailing the Atlantic with > confidence, making new friends and influencing people. Thorvald Asvaldsson > sailed to Iceland in the 10th century with his son Erik the Red, after > they'd been banished from Norway for manslaughter - if you've ever been in > an argument with Norwegians, you probably considered manslaughter too - > and > from Iceland, Erik explored the icebound island to the west, which he > named > Greenland, for promotional purposes. > > In 986, Bjarni Herjulfsson and his men sailed along the coast of New > England. Around the same time, Leif Eriksson, the son of Erik the Red, > sailed over and may have landed on the island of Manhattan. Did he come > ashore and try to buy it for $23 worth of junk jewelry? No. And do we > celebrate Bjarni Herjulfsson Day? No, we do not. The Vikings weren't into > self-promotion, and Reykjavik was not a world media center at the time. > > The Vikings were not out to lord it over the Indians or bring democracy > here > or teach folks about Nordic gods. They were free spirits, sailors, > explorers, so they left some carved stones here and there, relished the > exhilaration of the voyage and the sight of new lands, and went home and > composed sagas for the amusement of their friends and families. That > arrogant fool Columbus, who demanded 10 percent of all the gold the > Spanish > stole in the New World, got the holiday, the nation's federal district, a > town in Ohio and another in Georgia, a major river in the Northwest, and a > university in New York. > > But who cares? Scandinavians don't. They celebrate Columbus Day as we all > do, by going to the sale and saving 30 percent on towels and bed linens. > And > by covering the roses and putting the lawn furniture away. > > Their history after Leif and Erik and Bjarni has been tangled, of course. > The Norwegians suffered under the Danes and then the Swedes. The Danes > suffered under the delusion that they were French. The Swedes suffered > under > August Strindberg and Ingmar Bergman, neither of whom was the life of the > party. All of them suffered from the long, gray winters with twilight at > noon and the lunches of fried herring and potatoes and aquavit and the > general prohibition against raising your voice or driving pink Cadillacs. > But Lutheranism urged them toward kindness, industriousness and > self-effacement, and this is not a bad strategy for contentment. > > Look around today and you will find the Viking descendants, a calm and > stoical and somewhat formal people, by and large, not given to extremes of > fashion or chanting "We're Number One" or writing memoirs that hang out > the > family underwear. Walter F. Mondale is pretty much the prototype. He lost > the presidency by one of the biggest landslides in history to an aging > actor > whose grip on reality, never firm to begin with, was becoming > hallucinatory. > Ronald Reagan was sort of the Columbus of our time, a better PR man than > sailor, but so be it. Mr. Mondale is a buoyant man with a sense of humor > who > enjoys his life in Minnesota, where people are happy to see him, and when > you do, you see that losing is far from the worst thing that can happen to > a > man. Far from it. > > I propose that we change Columbus Day to Bush Day, a cautionary holiday, > like Halloween, a day to meditate on the hazards of ambition. We could > observe it by going through the basement and garage and throwing out stuff > we don't want or need. Also by not mortgaging the house to pay for a > vacation, and not yelling at the neighbors, and not assuming that the law > is > for other people. A day to honor kindness, industriousness and modesty. > > > > Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard Saturday nights > on public radio stations across the country. > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MNHENNEP-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message