Celebrating the Feast of Western Civilization - a/k/a Columbus Day
It’s almost Columbus Day — the one 24-hour window each year when America remembers that someone once did something bold, Catholic, and Western without consulting a committee of sociology majors. And right on cue, the “Indigenous People’s Day” crowd has crawled out of the gender-studies department to declare yet again that sailing across an ocean in 1492 was problematic.
These are the same people who think courage means deleting Netflix or Instagram for a week.
The Faith-Fueled Explorer vs. the Faith-Free Hashtaggers
Christopher Columbus wasn’t some cartoon villain twirling a mustache over a globe labeled Oppression Plan. He was a devout Catholic who prayed the Rosary on deck and believed — his own words — “the Lord put into my mind…the voyage.”
Imagine that: a man who risked death at sea because he thought God had plans for him. Meanwhile today’s activists risk a paper cut from their protest signs.
He sailed wooden ships through uncharted waters. Meanwhile, they can’t parallel park an electric car with twelve cameras and auto-park.
The “Genocide” Fairy Tale
The charge of genocide comes not from history but from La Leyenda Negra — the “Black Legend” cooked up by England and the Dutch to smear Catholic Spain. In reality, Columbus wrote of the natives: “They are the best people in the world…and above all the gentlest.”
That’s not a manifesto of hatred; that’s a missionary’s awe. He punished settlers who abused natives — which, in 15th-century terms, is like being the only guy at the office who actually reads the HR manual.
But sure, tell me more about how a man who died thinking he’d reached Asia masterminded a 500-year genocide.
What He Actually Brought
Let’s be clear: Columbus didn’t “steal” America. He connected two hemispheres and set off the chain of events that produced everything from hospitals and universities to constitutional liberty and coffee that doesn’t taste like mud.
Without Columbus, there is no Western Hemisphere, no Latin Mass in Mexico, no Italian restaurants, no electric guitar, and definitely no Wi-Fi for your “Decolonize Everything” tweet-thread.
The Irony Hall of Fame
Every year, the anti-Columbus brigade posts furious Instagram stories — from iPhones built with mined cobalt, on platforms created by Western engineers, powered by global trade routes that trace directly back to… Columbus.
“Down with colonizers!” they type, while using the Gregorian calendar invented by another Catholic. The self-awareness level could not be charted without a new unit of measurement.
If Columbus lived today, Silicon Valley would cancel his app for “offensive navigation practices.”
Catholic Courage vs. TikTok Courage
Columbus fasted, prayed, and sailed into the unknown believing Providence guided him.
The modern moral hero “bravely” posts a black square on Instagram and calls it activism.
He knelt before the Cross; they kneel before moral fashion.
He crossed the Atlantic; they cross the street to avoid opposing viewpoints.
Why the Hate?
Because Columbus represents everything modern relativists can’t stand: faith, conviction, and the audacity to believe Truth exists outside their feelings. He was Catholic, courageous, and convinced — three mortal sins in today’s secular catechism.
The Real Celebration
So yes, I’ll celebrate Columbus Day — not as a worship of one man, but as thanksgiving for the civilization that built cathedrals instead of safe spaces, composed symphonies instead of slogans, and measured virtue by sacrifice instead of hashtags.
To everyone observing “Indigenous People’s Day”: enjoy your paid holiday off, your smartphone, your electricity, your medicine, your free speech, and your GPS — all courtesy of the civilization Columbus helped begin and spread.
Raise your paper-straw latte to the Admiral of the Ocean Sea. He earned it.