Celebrating Columbus Day: Should We?
The issue of whether the United States should continue to celebrate Columbus Day or not has been a topic of interest for quite some time. To some people Columbus Day is a ridiculous day on which we glorify genocide of the Arawak Indians while to others it is considered a day of great importance and a celebration of an honorable man in history. Columbus Day is actually the latter description, but to prove this an agreeable definition is needed. What exactly is an “honorable man”? One could say that an honorable man is someone who is of high rank, dignity, or distinction–someone who is worthy of honor and high respect–someone who is trustworthy–someone who is creditable. Does Christopher Columbus not fit into …show more content…
One-fourth of the way [to Asia] he came upon an unknown uncharted land…–the Americas” (2). This is not to say that he did not accomplish a great feat, but rather to say that what he did accomplish was not an original objective of his. Nevertheless, whether it was accidental or intentional, Columbus did introduce Europe to the Americas, thus creating a permanent relationship between the two. On the contrary, Columbus is responsible, directly and indirectly, for the death of 250,000 Arawak Indians. Of course this is true, but his reasons for doing so further define him as an honorable man. Columbus was “desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, [and] had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold” (4). While in his desperation, he forced the Indians to bring a certain quantity of gold to him every three months, and those who did not meet the quota were killed (4). After learning this, one may form the conclusion that Columbus was a ruthless man. One may even go as far as saying he was a monster, but Columbus had a promise to uphold. Would an honorable man not do everything in his power to keep his word? With this in mind, despite the detrimental faults that Columbus committed, the fact that he did them in order to not let down his people shows,
The issue of whether the United States should continue to celebrate Columbus Day or not has been a topic of interest for quite some time. To some people Columbus Day is a ridiculous day on which we glorify genocide of the Arawak Indians while to others it is considered a day of great importance and a celebration of an honorable man in history. Columbus Day is actually the latter description, but to prove this an agreeable definition is needed. What exactly is an “honorable man”? One could say that an honorable man is someone who is of high rank, dignity, or distinction–someone who is worthy of honor and high respect–someone who is trustworthy–someone who is creditable. Does Christopher Columbus not fit into …show more content…
One-fourth of the way [to Asia] he came upon an unknown uncharted land…–the Americas” (2). This is not to say that he did not accomplish a great feat, but rather to say that what he did accomplish was not an original objective of his. Nevertheless, whether it was accidental or intentional, Columbus did introduce Europe to the Americas, thus creating a permanent relationship between the two. On the contrary, Columbus is responsible, directly and indirectly, for the death of 250,000 Arawak Indians. Of course this is true, but his reasons for doing so further define him as an honorable man. Columbus was “desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, [and] had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold” (4). While in his desperation, he forced the Indians to bring a certain quantity of gold to him every three months, and those who did not meet the quota were killed (4). After learning this, one may form the conclusion that Columbus was a ruthless man. One may even go as far as saying he was a monster, but Columbus had a promise to uphold. Would an honorable man not do everything in his power to keep his word? With this in mind, despite the detrimental faults that Columbus committed, the fact that he did them in order to not let down his people shows,