by Jesse Lyman

Created on: April 06, 2010

It has been said that the Vikings were the first Europeans to “discover” America and the ruins, however faint, found in Newfoundland Canada seem to bear that out. It may also be true that a Chinese explorer, named Zheng He, arrived in North America with a rather large fleet some 70 years ahead of Columbus. So with all that said, just what makes the North American adventures of Christopher Columbus so noteworthy?

The answer is not in any notion of being the first, especially now that it has been disproven by the above. No, it is in the profound impact of his landing and indeed its permanence. None of the previous visitors had any lasting effects.

The Vikings came and then left. If the story of Zheng He and his armada is true, then that potential greatness was left to rot on the docks in China along with his grand fleet.

China by that time was turning itself inward. Undoubtedly, the profoundness of Columbus’s landing is to be found in the North American and indeed global reality we live in today. That is to say, the event still lives; unlike the others.

But with that said, maybe some further reflection about Columbus Day is still in order. Indeed, would it not be more accurate, and more inclusive, to rename it something like lets say, “Discovery Day” or maybe “Event Day”?

It is very true that Columbus took quite a bold chance, and in so doing forever changed the world. Yet by stamping the day with his name, the focus ends up on Columbus the icon while the event itself, and all the spokes that radiate out from it, end up as secondary considerations.

His voyage is a remarkable story to be sure, but so are many others and they don’t have dates set aside in their honor. So it is reasonable to ask, which is actually bigger, Columbus’ voyage or Europe’s arrival?

Of equal note, a focus on the man ignores the fact that there was an indigenous population that also discovered Columbus and at least indirectly, Europe!

The day of his arrival, and thus Europe’s, is one which all of humanity should look at with extreme ambivalence. If at the time, one called the Western Hemisphere home and watched as “home” was suddenly claimed for the King and Queen of Spain, then you had just witnessed what would prove to be the start of a human calamity the likes of which would not be topped until we see the likes of Stalin and Hitler.

Additionally, it would in fact last significantly longer. So as waves of Europeans soon followed, perhaps it was not a genocide that ensued, since after taking the land, gold and resources, these “new arrivals” generally showed a remarkable indifference toward the Native Peoples.

At least as long as they stayed quiet and played ball. Certainly not so for Europe’s later Tartars, Gypsies and Jews, though in making that assertion it must be realize that a crime still took place and went unanswered for.

On the other hand of course, if one believes in the theory that all of humanity emerged out of Africa roughly around 100,000 years ago, then we are also looking at the point where this grandest of all human diaspora begins the process of reconnecting.

Add in that continuing evolution called the United States, with its ceaseless drive to improve itself and the planet-wide human condition, and the paradox becomes quite glaring.

All at once Columbus Day marks mankind at our most self-centered, materialistic and bigoted worst and yet also at our deepest, humane and dynamic best.

So is Columbus Day worthy of all the hoopla? For all the resulting mix of pain and triumph, you bet. As long as we accept, learn and grow by both.

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