Columbus Day

I have to admit to having huge a personal bias toward Columbus Day. It's not due to patriotism, though I love my country. It really stems from the fact that quite often during my school career I would have my birthday off from school because it fell close to Columbus Day. Anyway the following video has been circulating:



My first inclination is to sympathize and agree with the sentiment and opinions put forth in that video. When one really tries to take a sober look at history and the times, I have to admit that I take a more moderate view, which I found nicely expressed in this article, though I do not agree with everything that author Rick Bayan said either. The birth of one civilization was often at the expense of another, cultures and peoples were overtaken and absorbed, it's messy business, rife with strife. We can no more blame Columbus for shifting the scales of progress than any of the ancients (Rome, Goths, Mongols, etc.). They all had their barbarism and their progressive points; all leaving their mark on civilization, in both good and bad ways. Surely Columbus was no saint, but to liken him to dictators and madmen of the modern age, such as Hitler and Pol Pot, as some are now doing is not entirely accurate. The "Reconsider Columbus Day" video does not go that far. No amount of apologizing can un-spill that old milk, and no amount of inaccurately presenting history will help either. The fact remains that Columbus was the first to gain widespread access to a world that was very new to Europeans. Vikings may have landed first but they didn't stay or last, and as much as I lament the fact that there is no acceptable day to wear my horned helmet and blond-braided wig, unless one is a Minnesota fan you're just out of luck. Anyway, we are not celebrating what kind of person Columbus was, or his purposes and intentions, but that he built the highway that brought most of us here, one way or another. I'm pretty much glad to be here, are you? What we can do is press on toward a better future as the framers of the U.S. Constitution had hoped, even in the light of the slavery and inequality many abhorred even then as they wrote those words that govern us still, toward a better future for all. I hope that we will soon establish a day where the native and ingenious cultures of America are celebrated, along with all our other special days: Flag, Independence, Thanksgiving, Dr. King, Labor, Presidents, Veterans, and so on, even old Columbus.

In the region where I live, it has been years since the school holiday has been celebrated as such. For close to 2 decades now, it is merely designated as a "No-Work/No-School/No-Paid Holiday/Hurricane Make-up Day".

On a side note, the Tostino's commercial that was linked in Bayan's article was rather funny.