Depending on your age and your occupation or need, Monday, October 13, may have made some changes in your calendar … or not. No mail, only ATMs, yet stocks could be traded and most schools had a long week end. Details and time frame of celebration or not can easily be found with the now ever present AI. As always, what we have lived with gives us a foundation. I grew up when Columbus Day was not to be treated casually, but noted and respected. However, balance these adages: “To the victor goes the spoils,” against “History is shaped by the evidence that survives.”
So, other than filing 1492 from a requirement of history class as a year to be remembered, a song and a poem validated the celebration, All of my first through twelfth grade school was gathered in the auditorium for a program. We sang Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean, a candidate for the national anthem for some years and a reminder of Columbus’s voyage that found a block on his venture to India. Then year after year, some high school senior girl (no idea why never a boy) gave an emotional reading of Joaguin Miller’s poem Columbus, Not only did I pinpoint geography, I claimed the “Sail on!” cry at the end, memorized all myself, and eventually taught it to grades of student.
Back to the “History is shaped…” statement. Stories of conquest and mistaken claims of land abound in history books. Columbus Day now shares the joint title of Indigenous People Day for those who occupied the land and were designated as Indians, a mistake difficult to shake off. Though we are not required to sail literal unknown seas, figurative journeys seem to abound. Often we go forth by faith and not by sight. Something needs to keep us going besides a song or a poem. The endurance to “Sail on !” may be in this verse.
But I’ll take the hand of those who don’t know the way,
who can’t see where they’re going.
I’ll be a personal guide to them,
directing them through unknown country.
I’ll be right there to show them what roads to take,
make sure they don’t fall into the ditch.
These are the things I’ll be doing for them—
sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.”
The Message Isaiah 42:16
Let Me Tell Ya 