Meeting of Two Worlds: A Perspective Not Circumscribed to the Past

From very different and sometimes opposing points of view, the already imminent V Centenary is contemplated, analyzed, and valued in multiple places. The subject provokes controversies and allegations. These deal on some occasions, the least, with historical or geographical aspects related to the voyage itself undertaken by Columbus in 1492. Much more numerous are the points of view and the allegations in which it is not the voyage itself of Columbus that interested, but the consequences of all kinds that were derived from it, some lasting until the present. Faced with allegations, complaints and controversies that seem endless, it is worth asking, what is to be derived from the much-hyped V Centenary? Will this be a mere occasion for some to evoke "their glories" and others the grievances of which their ancestors were victims? Is it not interesting, perhaps, in a special way, to make this occasion to reflect on prevailing aspects in contemporary reality, also derived from the process that is referred to in so many ways? Is it important to just stare at the past, without paying attention to the present and looking for answers to problems that could increase in the future?