With 27 pounds, 8 words, four teeth, and immeasurable joy to his parents accomplished, Sam is approaching his first birthday. I’m constantly surprised at how fast this is going.

To say his value to my life is unprecedented would be a pale understatement.

The brilliance of an uncluttered mind is so refreshing. His sense of life projects a contagious reminder of the world as it should and ought to be.  If only the high from him looking me square in the eyes and smiling could be bottled and sold.*

I wish every human could enjoy that perfectly seasoned mixture of life, joy, purity, honesty, and the sense of pride that connects it all. Doubtless the bonds we share with our spouse or family members are sacred and intense. On an entirely different level are the bonds held with a human whose expressions can be nearly felt, whose glance so resembles our other half, whose mannerisms are so acutely familiar, and who existence wholly depends on our rationality. In a sense I consider it me that I’m caring for, that it’s my legs learning to walk, or that it’s my security and comfort he clings for.  I protect his being with no less intensity than I protect my own - likely more.

His first year of life has been the most cherished, productive and memorable of my own.

* Too bad it would take 10 years and 80 million to slog through the FDA.

By Thomas A. Bowden

On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, opening a sea route to vast uncharted territories that awaited the spread of Western civilization. Centuries later, the ensuing cultural migration culminated in the birth and explosive growth of the greatest nation in history: the United States of America.

It is fitting that we have set aside a day to honor the Great Explorer. On one level, Columbus Day honors the man himself for his many virtues. Columbus was a man of independent mind, who steadfastly pursued his bold plan for a westward voyage to the Indies despite powerful opposition–a man of courage, who set sail upon a trackless ocean with no assurance that he would ever reach land–a man of pride, who sought recognition and reward for his achievements.

We need not evade or excuse Columbus’s flaws–his religious zealotry, his enslavement and oppression of natives–to recognize that he made history by finding new territory for a civilization that would soon show mankind how to overcome the age-old scourges of slavery, war, and forced religious conversion.

Thus, the deeper meaning of Columbus Day is to celebrate the rational core of Western civilization, which flourished in the New World like a pot-bound plant liberated from its confining shell, demonstrating to the world what greatness is possible to man at his best.

On Columbus Day, we celebrate the civilization whose philosophers and mathematicians, men such as Aristotle, Archimedes, and Euclid, displaced otherworldly mysticism by discovering the laws of logic and mathematical relationships, demonstrating to mankind that reality is a single realm accessible to human understanding.

On Columbus Day, we celebrate the civilization whose scientists, men such as Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein, banished primitive superstitions by discovering natural laws through the scientific method, demonstrating to mankind that the universe is both knowable and predictable.

On Columbus Day, we celebrate the civilization whose political geniuses, men such as John Locke and the Founding Fathers, defined the principles by which bloody tribal warfare, religious strife, and, ultimately, slavery could be eradicated by constitutional republics devoted to protecting life, liberty, property, and the selfish pursuit of individual happiness.

On Columbus Day, we celebrate the civilization whose entrepreneurs, men such as Rockefeller, Ford, and Gates, transformed an inhospitable wilderness populated by frightened savages into a wealthy nation of self-confident producers served by highways, power plants, computers, and thousands of other life-enhancing products.

On Columbus Day, in sum, we celebrate Western civilization as history’s greatest cultural achievement. What better reason could there be for a holiday?