Columbus Day

In elementary school, Columbus Day was one of those minor holidays that came with a special bulletin board showing the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, discussion of the "New World," and at least one time hearing "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." After middle school and into adulthood, the holiday seemed to fade into pretty much nothing. It could be because I live in the South. I have friends in New York City who say Columbus Day is a pretty big deal there.
But why the big deal? Christopher Columbus, the great discoverer of the "New World" was not a man worth celebrating, except for maybe with a bottle of wine for actually making it across the ocean in those days.
First of all, as we all really know but many seem to repress, Columbus discovered nothing. He happened upon Caribbean islands that were already inhabited, and had already been "discovered" by Europeans. Natives notwithstanding, he wasn't even the first European to land in the "New World." He was beaten in that task by many years.
Secondly, Columbus almost back out of the voyage thanks to, of all things, the church. At the time, the church was a bit misguided in declaring the earth is flat, and had nearly convinced Columbus this was true thanks in part to its propaganda campaign attempting the thwart the voyage. (Were they afraid of being proven wrong? The more things change...)
Finally, almost until his death Columbus asserted that what he had "discovered" was a part of Asia, and not the "New World" of North America. So not only did the man not actually discover anything, he lived his whole life believing the place he discovered was actually somewhere else, which also had already been discovered.
I know, I know. I didn't really mention the atrocities Columbus and his men committed against the natives already living on this side of the pond. Truthfully, I can't even write or think about it much. It upsets me. It makes me mad. It makes me feel guilty. It just flat gives me a severe case of the red ass.
If anything, Columbus Day should be renamed in honor of the Native Americans that were raped of their land and dignity when the white folk came traipsing across the pond for a better life. The holiday has become another one of those public (read: government) school myths were are taught - like Thanksgiving.