Today is Columbus Day (Observed). We wanted to honor the day that Columbus "discovered" America, but we only want to do it on a day that's convenient for us. And saying that phrase is a convoluted twist of words. Columbus didn't first spot land, he wasn't looking for a new continent, it wasn't named America until years later, and as for discovery, he merely ran the mission that revealed it to the western culture in Europe of the mid-15th century. Perhaps that makes it the perfect holiday to celebrate today. Christopher Columbus wasn't his real name, it's the name we chose to give him. Cristoforo Colombo was born in Genoa, a city that does not predominantly speak English where we renamed Cristoforo. Not only did he not "discover" a new world, rather he revealed it to the travelling parts of the world, but he cheated the guy who first spotted it out of the reward. A guy not named Chris found a world that wasn't lost, and has that day celebrated on the second Monday of the month he discovered it. The only thing more confusing about that would be to factor in the Gregorian to Julian calendar shift of the 18th century that corrected for leap years.
Another October occurrence is The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, not that I watch The Simpsons, not that I watch the annual Treehouse of Horror, and not that the TOH always airs in October. Last night as I watched it, reminding myself of why I don't let my children watch The Simpsons, Ned Flanders had a line that struck me as funny. In typical fashion, it stuck me odd not in the manner in which it was intended. Ned was saying this snippet in a manner that is demeaning to Christianity, but he mentioned the Bible written in the language God originally intended. Said language being English.
There are those that believe that if you aren't reading the King James version of the Bible you aren't really reading the Bible, presumably Flanders is one. Focusing on just the words of the message often makes us miss the message. The context is important, the content of the message is important, but more important than either is the message itself. What the message stands for, what it means, what it refers to, the intent of the concept being relayed is the point of all communications.
Happy Columbus Day (from a guy who writes with a literary voice).
~~~~~~~~~~~
Posted at 1012