Discovering Columbus Day

A slightly edited version of this commentary ran 2 years ago in "Panorama," a Navy newspaper in Naples, Italy. - JK

By Joe Kane

Why do we celebrate Columbus Day? Or actually, I was thinking, why don’t we celebrate Columbus Day? Is it because people don’t know how to celebrate that particular day? We don’t put up Columbus trees or wake up early to see if the Columbus Bunny came during the night; and I can’t remember ever seeing fireworks on Columbus Day Eve.

Even the date we observe Columbus Day is flexible – whatever Monday happens to be close is good enough. Maybe that’s part of the problem. The day hasn’t been defined properly and formalized in rituals and traditions well enough for us to catch the spirit of the day. Did you ever wake up on October 12 and shout, “Woo hoo! Columbus Day is here!?”

I have. But that’s because I was tricked. Columbus Day is my birthday. When I was a kid I thought the three-day weekend was because I was born on October 12. It turns out there was a universe already in existence prior to my arrival in this world.

Anyway, once I got over my disappointment at having to share my birthday with some Italian Sailor, who by sheer chance was around before me, I decided to find out more about Christopher Columbus and why he gets a designated day.

I learned that Columbus has been mistreated, and even misplaced by some modern historians, who say he didn’t discover America since there were already people there, and that he was the bringer of genocide to the Native American population. But more often than these dubious and conflicted accounts you will hear nothing at all about Columbus. He’s fallen out of favor and been erased from many books. Not to mention his status in popular culture. Think about when the last time you heard a talk among your friends and neighbors about the importance of Columbus Day?

I’ve concluded that we have lost -- or never had -- focus about what Columbus represents. It’s up to us to have a re-birth of Columbus Day spirit, so here is my stab at what we should be celebrating and how it should be done.

First, Columbus Day is about the spirit of heroic achievement. We’re talking about a guy who got in a boat not much bigger than an SUV and set off where no one had ever dared to go… and he did it with only his own skill and judgement as a Sailor to depend on. If you have ever been on the ocean when you can’t see land you may have an appreciation for what that means.

Second, Columbus Day represents the belief in man’s ability to overcome ignorance, superstition, fear and even nature itself. Most people, including the majority of Columbus’ crew, believed that they were either going to fall off the edge of the earth or be eaten by giant sea monsters. Columbus knew better. He had studied astronomy and science and knew the idea of a flat earth was ridiculous. Of course he had to keep a fake ship’s log in addition to his real log so that he could show his crew they were not “too far” from land, but he proved himself correct even if he never got to his original destination, the east coast of Asia.

And third, Columbus Day represents the value of Western Civilization. Despite the problems that accompanied the initial exploration and settling of the newly discovered lands, the most important thing Europeans brought with them were the ideals of reason, freedom, science, and respect for human life. The norm in the Americas at that time was endless bloody warfare between tribes, no technology to speak of (not even the wheel) and an average lifespan of less than 35 years.

Without Columbus the freest country in the history of the world, the United States, may never have come into being. Sure, someone would have eventually found the New World, but it may have happened in a much different way and with a less desirable outcome.

To help you commemorate Columbus Day this year, here are a few suggestions. Take leave and go to Genoa, the birthplace of Columbus. Learning a little about the man who discovered the New World fits right into the “spirit of discovery” that Columbus represents. Okay, not likely, right? How about going online and ordering a book about Columbus? I recommend “The Journal of Christopher Columbus” so you can read about him in his own words; or if you want other insight there are many other books available.

As a Sailor I like to go down to the sea on Columbus Day. I like to stand at the edge of the water, smell the salt and think about how a man with no charts and nothing but his own judgment to guide him found the courage to point his boat toward the setting sun and say, “sail on.” With no sea close by here in Baghdad, I guess I will set my camp chair up on a piece of sand somewhere and imagine myself at the beach, or better yet, I’ll go to the palace pool (in my “free time”).

If you are still unsure how to celebrate Columbus Day this year, come find me at the pool behind Saddam's former palace, I’ll be happy to sing a Columbus Day carol with you in celebration of the day.

Just don’t forget to bring me a birthday present.