As a child, I definitely didn't complain about any excuse that got me out of school. All holidays and teacher work days were welcomed with wide arms and a big smile. I'm sure many of you can agree with me on that one. But sadly, the excitement of getting a quick break from the extremely hectic academic career I had as a six-year-old blinded me from realizing what was actually being celebrated on some of those school holidays. I was simply too young to understand that I was being fed ideas with a reward to make me go along with it quietly.

With that being said, let's talk Columbus Day.

In school, Christopher Columbus was presented as this amazing explorer. He established permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola and successfully initiated the European colonization of the New World. Now, to an elementary schooler, this sounds really cool, right? We even learned a song about it that most of us still remember to this day. Little did I know that my teachers, my school, and my government's education regulations neglected to give me the full story.

You see, someone was already living happily in the "New World" before good ole Chris came along. Actually, quite a few someones. An entire ethnicity and culture to be exact.

Power is a funny thing, friends. People will do just about anything to have it. People will rape and pillage to have it. People will enslave an entire race to have it. People will spread diseases to have it. People will literally kill to have it. Well, at least Columbus did. We should celebrate that and honor it with a school holiday! Our children totally won't get the wrong message. Oh, the Native Americans? They surely won't mind, they absolutely loved the guy.

If by now you haven't been convinced of how deplorable and disgusting this "holiday" is, maybe these will help.

So let's abolish "Columbus Day" and adopt "Indigenous Peoples Day." That deserves to be celebrated.