In 1630, John Winthrop, the leader of the Puritan founders who landed in Boston, delivered what would become a famous sermon just before the first group of Massachusetts Bay Colonists departed for America on the ship Arbella. The sermon, titled "A Model of Christian Charity," is one of the most famous documents in American history. One portion in particular has been frequently quoted, including by Presidents John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan:
For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.
The decision by officials of the city of Columbus, Ohio to jettison its namesake's public holiday without even a public discussion spotlights disturbing trends in our country.
To begin with, there's the obvious: The city gets its name from Christopher Columbus, who began European exploration and settlement of the Americas by landing on an island in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492.
