With the observance of Columbus Day just around the corner, I’m remembering a talk I heard about illegal aliens a few weeks ago.

Rep. Gil Gutknecht was the key speaker and no one could have done a finer job of pointing out the dangers and difficulties involved.

Rep. Gutknecht also spoke in a moving way about his ancestors’ migration to this country.

The only thing that bothered me about the talk was his obvious objection to any criticism of the country.

I can’t, and will not attempt to quote him exactly on the subject, but with great feeling he spoke of a school book he had recently read in one of our public schools.

It was a passage that dealt with Columbus’s discovery of the new world. The book said something about it being the break-up of paradise. Well, looked at from the Indians’ point of view it probably was. The cruelty with which they were treated and are treated even now makes for pretty grim reading.

Should children be deprived of truth in order that they can grow up blinded by the illusion that our country and ours alone is perfect and without fault?

I went through my school years being taught that the great object of the political life of

Abraham Lincoln was to free the slaves. Fortunately, I was surrounded by elderly relatives who had not only studied history, but had lived it.

I grew up knowing that Lincoln’s aim was to keep the Union together.

As he said, &8221;If by freeing the slaves I could save the Union, I would do so. If the country needs to be half slave and half free or all slave to save the Union then that is the way to go.&8220;

I think that Lincoln was one of our greatest presidents, so great that telling the truth about him should in no way diminish our respect for him.

I agree entirely with Rep. Gutknecht when he says that children should be taught the great and good things about our country.

They should also be taught that most of the good and great things are with us because somebody &045; seeing the faults of the country &045; had the courage to work for change and improvement.

The danger of either nations or persons feeling that they have arrived, is that they will never move forward.

On Columbus Day, I often think of a cartoon I saw in the New Yorker. It shows a group of Indians watching the landing of the Mayflower.

One Indian observes to another, &8221;Well, there goes the neighborhood.&8220;

(Love Cruikshank is an Albert Lea resident. Her column runs Thursday.)