Columbus Day

Controversy, imagine that, reigns supreme yet again on the blog of our fearless champion. I traversed the globe all the way down to Atlanta and was inspired by the legendary blogger Seth Godin to continue giving my thoughts a voice on a daily basis. Today, oddly enough, is the day that I have picked to start afresh and it is the day that we recognize Columbus' discovery of the Americas. I say controversy only in the sense that some refuse to embrace the holiday and have decried it as a racist celebration. I was privy to such a "conversation" (if you can call a blog a conversation - I suppose it is a rather detached way to engage) earlier in which individual A commented, rather derisively and sarcastically, that individual B was wrong to mention this racist day-off and proceeded to elaborate on all the "racist stuff" surrounding this holiday was nonsense.
While I do give credence to the idea that some of the criticism is blown out of proportion, I was preparing a response when my son shut my computer down and so I avoided potential nastiness. He is now taking a nap and I have chosen a less combustible medium than the blog of said individual A to expound.
It is odd to me that whenever the matter of racism is brought up, caucasians tend to respond with defense and proceed to downplay/justify every point being made. In this case, instead of allowing action to speak, individual A chose the cheap option of posting and completely missed the point - which I will make, now.
Bottom line - Columbus' discovery of America should be recognized for what it was - a discovery. Issues beyond that - treatment of natives, greed, etc - are genuine grievances and give us an opportunity to reconcile. If you don't have anything to reconcile, then don't get involved, if you do - own up and move on. If you have a grievance and someone begs forgiveness, grant it. Simple stuff, right??