Columbus Day Remembered
Columbus Day doesn’t get much respect these days. Maybe that’s because it’s not a three day weekend. The schools are in session, the mail get’s delivered, and the garbage gets picked up. Life is pretty normal. I suppose some towns will have a Columbus Day parade, but mine won’t.
Perhaps there’s another reason why Columbus Day doesn’t get much respect. Over the years we’ve discovered that the event Columbus Day commemorates – Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the “new World” has its shadow side. European colonization of the Americas, while “bringing” Christianity to the native populations, also brought disease, slavery, and more. Now had it not been Columbus, it would have been someone else sooner or later – probably sooner. Back in the 15th century the world was already getting smaller. It was just a matter of time before this “undiscovered country” was uncovered.
Since we had not then nor have we yet adopted a principle of noninterference – ala Star Trek – it’s likely that the first contact between the European world and the Americas was going to go badly. As with any encounter life as it was being lived was going to be changed. Back then the idea of cultural sensitivity while present in the minds of a few wasn’t common practice.
But now that we sit h ere more than half a millennium after that discovery and the consequences of that discovery – both the good and the bad – it is appropriate to stop on this Columbus Day and consider the cultural and ecological foot print we leave on this world we live in. It is important that we remember that every action has its consequences. They can be good or ill, but the consequences are real. Sometimes those consequences are quite destructive.
We’re ere now – we can’t change that fact. But we can consider how we live within our environment. That would be a worthy way of commemorating a bittersweet holiday.
Perhaps there’s another reason why Columbus Day doesn’t get much respect. Over the years we’ve discovered that the event Columbus Day commemorates – Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the “new World” has its shadow side. European colonization of the Americas, while “bringing” Christianity to the native populations, also brought disease, slavery, and more. Now had it not been Columbus, it would have been someone else sooner or later – probably sooner. Back in the 15th century the world was already getting smaller. It was just a matter of time before this “undiscovered country” was uncovered.
Since we had not then nor have we yet adopted a principle of noninterference – ala Star Trek – it’s likely that the first contact between the European world and the Americas was going to go badly. As with any encounter life as it was being lived was going to be changed. Back then the idea of cultural sensitivity while present in the minds of a few wasn’t common practice.
But now that we sit h ere more than half a millennium after that discovery and the consequences of that discovery – both the good and the bad – it is appropriate to stop on this Columbus Day and consider the cultural and ecological foot print we leave on this world we live in. It is important that we remember that every action has its consequences. They can be good or ill, but the consequences are real. Sometimes those consequences are quite destructive.
We’re ere now – we can’t change that fact. But we can consider how we live within our environment. That would be a worthy way of commemorating a bittersweet holiday.
Crossed published at Faithfully Liberal.
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