8/12/2019 Columbus Day Speech

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Good morning

When I began investigating Columbus Day, I was interested in learning the specifics of the event

in History it was meant to commemorate. The story that I discovered was intriguing and

adventurous, but why was it commemorated? It was a bold voyage for discovery, but why was it

important? Why was it remembered? Certainly there have been more daring and profoundadventures in our past.

We know from our history that this wasnt the first discovery of the Americas by man. We know

that Columbus himself was unaware of his true location. So why is Columbus Day significant

beyond the remembrance of a lost sailors good fortune?

Then it occurred to me.

519 years ago, an Italian sailing in the name of the Spanish crown, made landfall in the Bahamas

on board a square sailed wooden boat that represented the epitome of technology at the time.

This was the moment that Western technology and Western influence touched the shores of the

Americas.

The reason that October 12, 1492 is an important date is because it marks the day that our history

as Americans began.

The influences of the rest of the world, the colonization of North America, our war for

independence, our wars with the world, even our walks on the moon have all occurred since

October 12, 1492.

In just 519 years, we have progressed from the square sailed carrack to the space shuttle, from

handmade parchment to smart boards, from 20 knots with a good wind to breaching the light

barrier. Compared to the span of human existence and to civilizations in the world that measure

their histories with millennia, we have progressed in the blink of an eye.

Not exaggerating our achievement, we have literally changed the face of our planet. The day that

technology touched our shores, 519 years ago, there were no ports or roads. There were no

airports or space stations. There were no cell phones or global positioning satellites. There were

no buildings or schools. Every structure, every event, everything that uniquely may define us as

American, began after October 12, 1492.

These achievements are not just our own. The world has been the lab for our great Americanexperiment. However, the ideals and innovation forged on this continent have been the catalysts

of mankinds progresssince this voyage in 1492. Christopher Columbus could never have

predicted the repercussions of his voyage nor could the world have realized the profound impact

these events would have. This date celebrates the progression of one of the greatest nations in

the world, and for that, it should always be remembered.