Lovely went out to check the mailbox today and came back empty-handed. This is unusual because the postman puts junk mail into the box if we get nothing legitimate. That way, we know he was there. I pondered momentarily and remembered that today is Columbus Day, a national holiday. When I was in grammar school, our nun taught us that Columbus discovered America, and he is remembered for having done so. It means some people have the day off from work, like the mail service, banks and most government offices. We never got the day off from school, so I guess Columbus wasn’t a very large hero.
In today’s world, Columbus is seen as just another sailor who got lost and bumped into some Caribbean Islands. He didn’t even come close to North America. Two hundred years ago, no one had a clue that he never touched the continent. Columbus sailed back to report his findings to Queen Isabella, his sponsor, that he discovered India. We were all happy that he did and that his trip opened the floodgates of migrants coming from Europe to be free from the oppression of their kings to settle into the wilds of America. The natives didn’t know the Europeans were coming in illegally because they didn’t have stupid laws forbidding it. The laws defining separation of colonies were drawn by those same early migrants.
Today, the climate is different. Many years after the migrants were settled and the lines were drawn to separate the colonies from one another someone discovered a Viking ship buried in the sands of Canada from four hundred years earlier than Columbus. These people argue that Columbus does not deserve to be honored, because the Vikings made the discovery before him, except they didn’t come home and declare they did. Others, who hate the idea of America denigrate Columbus and deny him the finding. They want to change history so they can rewrite it to their perspective. For whatever reason, Columbus has lost favor with the people of America simply because they have forgotten what they were taught in grammar school. The result is that some of us only remember that it is a day the mailmen get off, therefore there was no mail today.
Filed under: Characters I knew, Education, family | Tagged: Columbus Day, Days Off, Migration, Religious Persecution | 2 Comments »
