Why Do We Celebrate Columbus Day

Every year on the second Monday in October, people all across America, and also some foreign countries, celebrate a day commonly known as Columbus Day (usafederalholidays.com/). There have been many debates as to whether this was a well-deserved holiday to honor Columbus’ “achievements”. As I see it, I do not believe that he deserves a holiday due to many of his terrible attributes to history including but not limited to, murder, lying, cheating, and his misplaced judgment about his location. People are given holidays as a show of respect and honor towards their heroism and achievements, and none of the previous things listed above show any of those signs. Even Hitler did some great things such as, got Germany out of debt, helped growing families stay out of debt, and lowered the unemployment rate, but he was rightfully known for his terrible plan known as the Holocaust (topinfopost.com). In my opinion, these are the reasons why I believe Columbus does not deserve a holiday.

To start off with, Christopher Columbus was a liar to his crew,

which were the most important people to him at that time. His crew was growing very anxious and getting worried and his response to that was he “determined to count less than the true number, that the crew might not be dismayed if the voyage should prove long.” (eyewitnesstohistory.com). Many of Columbus’ men most likely had wives and children waiting for them at home. The crew most likely was worrying that they would never get to see them again if they got lost or got off course, but Columbus was selfish and wanted the crew to stay and help him. This is the reason he created the false logs and tricked his crew into believing that they were going fewer miles than they actually were. Columbus was the captain of the crew and out of anyone on the ship, he should have been the one with honesty, loyalty, and selflessness. Lying to his crew is only one of the reasons why, in my opinion he does not deserve a holiday.
To continue, Columbus did not have a very good record of being kind to the Native Americans. His initial contact with the Native Americans was peaceful and friendly, but he and his crew cheated them out of their very valuable personal possessions. Columbus writes in his journal that the crew gave them “things of small value, in which they took so much pleasure and became so much our friends that it was a marvel.” (swarthmore.edu). As one can see, they took advantage of these Native Americans who did not know any better. In many people’s opinions, this type of malice would we classified under lying and dishonesty. To have just arrived in this new land, and already claiming it as yours and cheating the Native people out of their valuables is a great offense and very petty in my book. Columbus and his crew should be ashamed of stealing from such naïve and unknowing people as the entire crew was supposed to be “Christian” people who have morals.
In addition to many of the offences listed previously, Columbus also was very mistaken as to where he thought he was. His main objective was to “sail west until he reached Asia” to find gold, pearls, and spices (eyewitnesstohistory.com). Columbus genuinely thought that he had reached Asia and this is the reason he named the Native Americans, Indians. As we now know, he was very wrongly mistaken, but figuring out where he was at wasn’t as easy as just pulling out your smart phone. Many explorers worked feverously trying to find a direct sea route to Asia, but Vasco De Gama was the first. He proved that Columbus did not find what he had set out looking for, and in my opinion this would have made Columbus lose all credibility in my eyes. Not only was he mistaken about his position, but someone else felt so strongly that he was wrong that they set out to prove that he was indeed in America and not Asia.
In conclusion, many of the things that Columbus has done do not show signs of a true hero that deserves a holiday.

From lying to his crew, to cheating the Natives out of their valuables, he was dishonest, untrustworthy, and misguided. As a person who claimed to be a “Christian”, he showed no signs of how a Christian should act according to the Bible. His motives were very wrong, for he was only in the pursuit of treasure and fortune. He had no concern over his crew when they were ready to turn back so that they would not get lost at sea which shows his selfishness, stinginess and greed. As one can see, Christopher Columbus had many downfalls and not small problems that one can oversee, but large mistakes and very apparent character flaws. As Americans we should give credit where credit is due and I think we should not waste time giving credit to people who don’t deserve it, but to the real heroes that do not get

recognition.