Columbus Day

This afternoon is dead. I am sitting here with little to do and less desire to find anything to replace it. I have sent my secretary home and it feels like the time to drive myself home. I have made efforts to handle the crises of the day and I will do better to go home and spend some time with my wife.

This is one of those odd mid-range holidays when more people than you expect take the day off, or expect you to be off yourself. You end up spinning your wheels and wondering if it just would have been better to stay in bed.

I suppose the lesson here is hidden in the event that we celebrate. In a time when most people in Europe thought that the dangers of travelling across the longitudinal lines between Europe and the unknown to the west were too daunting to attempt. Some people thought that the world was larger. Some thought it flat. Some thought monsters lay in wait for the traveller. Most simply stayed in bed (figuratively).

But Christobal Columbo was different. He saw the possibility of glory and fame and achievement. For three times, he approached the King and Queen of Spain before they had the gold and desire to provide him with three leaky, wooden vessels to sail westward toward the possibility of a western route to India. He was Buzz Aldrin and Neal Armstrong and Mike Collins all rolled into one. When he touched dry land in the Bahamas, he might as well have touched down on the moon.

In America we celebrate that kind of effort. Though he was not the first to the New World, off on his location on the globe and far from correct on his vision of the earth, he still showed the persistence and desire and vision we hold dear in this country. That is why we celebrate him today and have named so many cities, towns, counties, etc. in his honor.

Well, anyway, on to better things.