Let’s give Columbus Day the heave-ho. It is long past time.
Besides, it isn’t a big deal anyway.
Columbus Day is the lamest of national holidays:
There are no long-standing American traditions of cookouts and celebrations today.
It has no significant religious connections other than the fact that Chris was Catholic.
It isn’t beloved for its parades, its recognition of loyalty, or fun celebrations of spooks or tricks.
The only thing remarkable about Columbus Day is its ironic reputation for commerce.
Our prices are so low, it’s a steal!
It’s almost as if you are destroying our culture! Ha ha!
Tradition doesn’t trump the truth.
Thankfully, The Oatmeal doesn’t just want us to end a bad holiday which possesses no logical, traditional, or rational reason for being a national event. It suggests a more honorable replacement: Bartolomé Day.
As this art piece created for Columbus Day last year argues, Bartolomé de las Casas was, like Columbus, a morally-compromised adventurer. But rather than celebrate a man’s greed and sociopathy, we have the opportunity to celebrate personal transformation.
Because when I consider Bartolomé de las Casas,
both the things he did and the person he was, I think:
now this is a man whom children should learn about in school.
This should be the sole reason for maintaining a tradition. Not our own fear of change, but what we actually want our children to learn. Such as how to be better people.
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