Monday, October 09, 2017

Columbus Day




Celebrate - or not. I give a few reasons for both in today's column in the Boston Herald.

Here's the column!

If nothing else, enjoy the day off (if you have the day off, of course. If you don't, then do whatever you have to do.)

Thanks for coming here, and thanks for reading - in both places, I hope.

Soon, with more better stuff.

4 comments:

Craig said...

How about an 'America Sucks Day'? Or maybe 'America is the Suppurating Sore on Human History Day'. We could have mass public renunciations of citizenship in the town square. . .

I've said before that the whole Columbus thing is. . . complex. He was no angel, but he wasn't a devil, either. He was. . . a man. And all of us are where we are today, in large part because of him. For good and ill.

It's this Manichaean outlook that demands that everything be classified in black/white terms as either good or evil, that pollutes our contemporary public discourse. And it's frankly one of the reasons that I'm a Christian. The Christian view of human nature - that we are simultaneously made in God's Image and Likeness, and yet fallen and in desperate need of help - comports most closely with what I see around me. . .

joeh said...

I propose we celebrate Ostrich Day, where we hide our head in the sand every time anyone speaks, so as to avoid being offended. Hell, make everyday Ostrich Day!

Shit, I just found out that ostriches don't really stick their head in the sand...another popular holiday ruined before it even got off the ground.

It's.a.crazy.world said...

Soon I will be an "anthropologist" ~ whenever I get enough credits with the uni to get the degree. My minor is history, which I love for its sarcasm. Anthropology = humans + history. Having said all this, and besides the fact that I'm not a huge fan of Columbus, I just really don't give a (insert expletive). I'm just going to live my life. I suggest to those that are unhappy over "Thanksgiving" or "Christmas" or "Columbus Day" to ~ in the words of Sully ~ take a nap. Maybe you'll feel better!

messymimi said...

As one of my students in the home school history course i taught put it, Columbus may have been a great man, but he wasn't necessarily a good man.

And i love The Great Neighborhood Candy Exchange, where the children dress up in silly costumes and the mothers trade candy through their children.