Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Re: Columbus Day and Education   [NRO Staff]

So what if 24 percent of Americans don't care for Columbus Day? No big deal. Indeed, if there were no kind of celebration, then there wouldn't be those school events where he (and by analogy, all Europeans) are put on trial.

A much more sensible approach (thus, won't happen) would be to have two holidays, preferably in August when we can go to the beach. The first holiday would be "Civil Rights Icons Day," and you can celebrate whomever you wish: MLK, Harvey Milk, Cesar Chavez, or even Thomas Jefferson. The other day would be "Ethnic Pride Day," and would incorporate St. Pat's, Columbus, Cinco de Mayo (we are being creative here), and Kwaanza. I can foresee that the growing population of Wiccans might want to move Christmas there, too; but we can deal with that when it arises.

Most important of all, those two holidays would occur when school is not in session, so there wouldn't be any manipulative "education" about them. Just do what you feel, I say, and the rest of us can go catch some rays.

Robert Allgeyer
Aptos, Calif., and Ormond Beach, Fla.

10/13 12:23 PMShare