What Do We Do With Columbus Day?
“Happy Columbus Day!”
When you read those words just now, how did you feel?
Did you feel pride? Nostalgia? Inspiration?
Did you feel pain? Frustration? Anger?
In America, no matter who you are, Columbus Day evokes a lot of feelings. Every year, it also leads certain people to either argue against its existence or to defend it from criticism.
I am going to do neither.
Instead, I’d rather say this: You can ponder and celebrate history without ignoring the bad parts.
Columbus Day is both good and bad. And neither good nor bad. It just is…okay, now I’m getting too philosophically abstract to be helpful.
For this discussion to actually be helpful, I’d like to look at how Columbus Day affects us now in how we interact with other people socially.
Instead of arguing with each other, let’s learn from each other.
And how do we learn from each other? Be nice, and try to think from the other person’s perspective.
So…
If you DON’T celebrate Columbus Day
Don’t be rude to the people who do. They may understand Columbus differently than you do. It’s possible they’re ignorant about who Columbus was and what he did. But they may also understand more than you assume.
Hear them out. Offer your perspective. If they’re nice about it, you can have a mature adult conversation that ends with both parties feeling edified.
If they’re hostile, walk away. Don’t feel obligated to waste your time arguing with people who don’t value you or value your perspective.
Be clear and confident in your perspective, but don’t be disheartened when people don’t want to hear you out. If someone prefers to be ignorant, or if the person just doesn’t want to have that conversation, it isn’t your job to force them to have that conversation.
If you DO celebrate Columbus Day
Happy Columbus Day! Also, be kind and patient to people who refuse to celebrate with you. Even if you don’t want to admit it, here’s the truth: there are good reasons to not celebrate Columbus.
Be patient with those you disagree with. Listen to their concerns. And if they’re patient with you, share your concerns with them. It could be a learning moment for both of you!
But when they say something about Columbus you don’t like, don’t get offended. If someone talks about the negatives of Columbus’s voyage, including what happened to the Native Americans, it’s not liberal propaganda or revisionist history. It’s just the not-sanitized, kid-friendly version often taught in schools.
Christopher Columbus Changed the World
For good and bad, the world was changed forever.
Columbus kickstarted the Age of Discovery. Europe entered the Americas. It began a time of expansion for the European empires. It led to colonization and new trade routes. Europe had global reach. Columbus paved the way for the British colonies, which became the United States of America.
But the Columbian Exchange wasn’t all good. The Native Americans did suffer. Entire tribes were erased through disease. Many Native Americans were enslaved, abused, and killed. No amount of argument can change the tragedy that befell them.
It’s easy to overlook the injustices committed against the Native Americans, but we really shouldn’t. I’ve heard many people argue about how the Native American tribes were savage, violent, uncivilized, et cetera, as if to justify their mistreatment, but no.
It doesn’t matter how “civilized” the Native Americans were; they were treated unjustly, and to overlook that tragedy is disrespectful to their descendants.
Christopher Columbus changed the world. If the Age of Discovery never happened, the world as we know it would not exist. Truthfully, I’m thankful I live in the United States of America. It’s okay to like the United States. But in our pride, let’s not sanitize history. Let’s learn from our mistakes.
We can celebrate Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day. We can value Europe’s contribution to history and honor the Native Americans who were hurt in the process.
We can respect and reflect on history without bending it to fit our preferred narrative.
And if we do, we will truly have learned from history, the way we are meant to.
