Commentaries appear at regular intervals. If you would like an invited commentary for your publication, please let me know!

Happy Columbus Day!

That probably took you by surprise, didn't it? How many of you knew that it is Columbus Day or that Monday is the official holiday in the United States? How many children will go to school tomorrow and not hear a thing about Christopher Columbus? Worse, how many will go to school and hear that Columbus was an evil man?

The PC (Politically Correct) revisionists have done a very good job at erasing Christopher Columbus from history. It is getting as hard to find a statue or celebration of Columbus as it is to find an honest liberal. When Columbus is mentioned today it is often from the PC revisionist frame of reference: that Columbus was an ignorant man who brought slavery and disease to the paradise that was America before the westerners ruined it.

The truth is that Columbus was not ignorant, nor foolish, nor cowardly, nor lost and not evil. Columbus was a brave and visionary man who sought a faster and cheaper way to bring goods to Europe. He ran into America on his way to India, he did not get lost and wander around until he found America, as revisionists would like people to believe. To cross an ocean in the 15th century required bravery. It was an adventure that frequently resulted in the loss of life. The ships were tiny, cramped and at the mercy of the wind. Columbus pitched his vision of an ocean route to India to the leaders of many countries before Spain agreed to fund his expedition. One can imagine the salesmanship required to convince someone to fund such a risky venture. Who among us today could get a country to fund the modern-day equivalent journey—a private space venture to Mars?

Children today are often taught that Columbus brought disease and slavery to the Americas. However, both already existed in native civilizations. Indeed, many of the native civilizations still practiced ritual sacrifice and viewed kidnapping and slavery to be accepted practices. The disease vector ran both ways. Europeans (and Africans and Asians) coming to the Americas brought new diseases and carried new diseases back to their homes. There was no deliberate attempt to infect either natives of the Americas or the people coming from other parts of the globe. The truth is that both western and native societies had their vices, it is just a chance of fate that the westerners had firearms and thus won almost every violent conflict.

There are many things you can do to take back this holiday. Greet people with "Happy Columbus Day!", fly your flags proudly, educate your kids about the real Christopher Columbus and encourage them to talk about it in school with their teachers and friends. Most importantly, tell people you are proud that Columbus opened up the Americas to the rest of the world. If not for him, native populations may well have practiced ritual sacrifice, kidnapping, slavery and other horrors for many more centuries. Western society may not have been perfect, but it had long ago rejected things like ritual sacrifice and kidnapping by the 15th century.

Columbus Day Resources

• About the holiday
• Activities for kids
• Columbus Day eCards
• Columbus Day Parade
• Learn about Christopher Columbus
• Learn fun facts about Columbus and Columbus Day

Happy Columbus Day!

...revisionists have done a very good job at erasing Christopher Columbus from history.

Columbus was a brave and visionary man who sought a faster and cheaper way to bring goods to Europe

...tell people you are proud that Columbus opened up the Americas to the rest of the world.