Columbus Day

Why don't we have a Michael Vick Day? Or a Brittany Spears Day? Some of our heroes of today aren't worthy of such honor. Some of today's fallen heroes. idolized by so many, aren't worthy of the attention they receive. Heck, there are still people who give O. J. Simpson the thumbs-up sign when he passes by. Even he is a hero to some -but luckily not to very many.

So has our present-day world gone crazy? Are the heroes of today really that much worse than the heroes of the past? Or are the heroes of the past just more worthy because they lived at a time when their lives weren't subject to the scrutiny that those who aspire to be heroes in today's world are? Many heroes of days gone by are probably fortunate there was no television, radio or Internet when they roamed the earth - or they might not have been the heroes that history has made them.

Soon, Americans will 'celebrate' Columbus Day. I don't know about you, but I don't work for the local, state, or federal government. I don't teach school and I'm not a student. So, I've got nothing to celebrate. Columbus Day is just another workday for me and probably you as well. Perhaps we should celebrate the man who "discovered" America. Maybe bake a cake with "Thank You Christopher Columbus" written in green icing upon it. Maybe we could invite friends over to drink, frolic and eat cake and really celebrate this notorious Spaniard? What do you think?

If you went to public elementary school in the United States during the 50's, 60's or 70's, then your first impression of Christopher Columbus, like mine, probably came from those cute little pictures which were stuck all over the wall of the classroom the week before Columbus Day. You know the pictures...the ones showing a smiling Columbus stepping ashore in "New World" passing out nifty European goodies to an eager bunch of natives wearing little more than banana leaves and seashell necklaces.

History had been very kind to Christopher Columbus until recently. Now it is known that Columbus was no more the discoverer of the Americas than Neil Armstrong was the discoverer of the moon. All those memories and history lessons we were taught in grade school strewn about us now in shards of ruin.

The truth about our hero, a man we've honored with a holiday, is not pleasant. What kind of man are we honoring with Columbus Day? I've done a little research on Christopher Columbus and found that history is far different from the myth we were all taught in school.

To picture Columbus as a brave explorer setting sail into the unknown with discovery and exploration as his reward is dead wrong. Columbus sought power and wealth at the expense of others. Sounds a bit like today's money and power oriented world doesn't it. It flies in the face of those wonderful pictures we saw of Columbus passing out gifts to those ignorant natives dressed in banana leaves. Indeed "...Columbus did not sally forth upon the Atlantic for reasons of "neutral science" or altruism. He went, as his own diaries, reports, and letters make clear, fully expecting to encounter wealth belonging to others. It was his stated purpose to seize this wealth, by whatever means necessary and available, in order to enrich both his sponsors and himself. Plainly, he pre-figured, both in design and by intent, what came next. To this extent, he not only symbolizes the process of conquest and genocide which eventually consumed the indigenous peoples of America, but bears the personal responsibility of having participated in it. Still, if this were all there was to it, the defendants would be inclined to dismiss him as a mere thug along the lines of Al Capone rather than viewing him as a counterpart to Himmler...."  (from http://mit.edu/thistle/www/v9/9.11/1columbus.html )

Did our hero, to whom we dedicate a day of honor even discover North America? No so much. "...Columbus' voyage has even less meaning for North Americans than for South Americans because Columbus never set foot on our continent, nor did he open it to European trade. Scandinavian Vikings already had settlements here in the eleventh century, and British fisherman probably fished the shores of Canada for decades before Columbus. The first European explorer to thoroughly document his visit to North America was the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto, who sailed for England's King Henry VII and became known by his anglicized name, John Cabot. Caboto arrived in 1497 and claimed North America for the English sovereign while Columbus was still searching for India in the Caribbean. After three voyages to America and more than a decade of study, Columbus still believed that Cuba was a part of Asia, South America was only an island, and the coast of Central America was near the Ganges River.

Unable to celebrate Columbus' exploration as a great discovery, some apologists now want to commemorate it as a great "cultural encounter." Under this interpretation, Columbus becomes a sensitive genius thinking beyond his time in the passionate pursuit of knowledge and understanding. The historical record refutes this, too...." ( http://www.danielnpaul.com/ChristopherColumbus.html )

What is Columbus' legacy besides being a bumbling explorer who happened to land in the Caribbean thinking he was in India. Well, he was a slave trader and a brutal man who played a role in the near extermination of an entire race of human beings. Raping, pillaging, enslaving and murdering as he forced his European values on a pacifist race of human being known as the Taino . Columbus mistakenly referred to the Taino as Indians because, after all, he thought he had found a short route to India. "...Columbus decided to pay for his voyage in the one important commodity he had found in ample supply — human lives. He seized 1,200 Taino Indians from the island of Hispaniola, crammed as many onto his ships as would fit, and sent them to Spain, where they were paraded naked through the streets of Seville and sold as slaves in 1495. Columbus tore children from their parents, husbands from wives. On board Columbus' slave ships, hundreds died; the sailors tossed the Indian bodies into the Atlantic.

Because Columbus captured more Indian slaves than he could transport to Spain in his small ships, he put them to work in mines and plantations which he, his family, and followers created throughout the Caribbean. His marauding band hunted Indians for sport and profit — beating, raping, torturing, killing, and then using the Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs. Within four years of Columbus' arrival on Hispaniola, his men had killed or exported one-third of the original Indian population of 300,000...."
( http://www.danielnpaul.com/ChristopherColumbus.html )

There are only two private citizens who have earned the honor of a federal holiday: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Christopher Columbus. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked for equality and justice. Christopher Columbus opened the Atlantic slave trade, pillaged, plundered, and raped the pacifist Taino -while leading one of the most tragic campaigns of genocide in human history.

We have numerous towns (Columbia, S.C., Columbus, Ohio) and companies (Columbia Broadcasting System, Columbia Pictures, Columbia Gas, Columbia Records) name after Columbus.

With my grade school lessons in shambles and those lovely pictures which hung on the wall of my classroom faded reminders that what I believe may not always be true, I wonder how many other heroes of the past are not really heroes? Maybe someday I'll learn the truth about them.

But, Monday, October 8, 2007 is Columbus Day. A day honoring Christopher Columbus. And who was he? Columbus was an adventurous, bumbling and cruel man; there can be no doubt of that. Columbus caused enormous suffering and nearly wiped out an entire race of people; but discovered nothing. And, on Monday, the United States honor his memory by celebrating Columbus Day. I wonder that that says to the rest of the world about us?

Why don't we have a George Washington Carver Day? Or a Thomas Edison Day? Maybe some of our heroes today aren't what they should be. But many heroes and famous people of our era are a lot more deserving that Christopher Columbus.

And after studying a little history, I've made a little "discovery" of my own. And, it's good news! Our world today isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. Even the worst of our modern day heroes has to be a whole lot better than the man we know as Christopher Columbus.

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