Palestinian and Israeli peace promoters have been working together to produce olive oil for the past few years to earn money for peace efforts in the Middle East. I want to thank them for these thoughtful efforts. It was Abraham Lincoln who said, “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?” The olive tree and its fruit have been closely associated with peace for centuries. The dove carrying the olive branch is the best known symbol for world peace. Two olive branches encompassing the world map make up the UN (United Nations) logo.
Why is the olive branch a symbol for world peace?
Let me tell you the story the way it was told to me.
Several thousand years ago life on earth had been brought to the brink of extinction. It’s a long story, but the root problem was that people had become extremely selfish. They were so bad, in fact, that God felt sorry He had ever made them in the first place. Waters had covered the earth and destroyed the plant life, the animals, the environment and almost all of civilization. As the flood waters receded the mountain tops began to slowly emerge. The smell of freshly watered earth was everywhere. On one lonely mountainside buried under the heavy mud was a lone seed. Under a bright sky the slender green seedling pushed its way up though the warm, moist Anatolian soil. Before a rainbow had ever graced the sky, this first living thing which issued from the newly fertile ground, this unpretentious olive stem, gave hope that life would flourish on the earth again.
But then a shadow covered over the helpless shoot. Down swooped a soft-winged bird, a dove. She grasped the tiny branch firmly in her beak and pulled until the spout was severed from its roots. She flew, carrying the branch away from the safe mountain top, over miles of blue-gray waters. In the midst of the sea she saw a tiny dot, far in the distance, a boat. On the deck of this boat stood a wrinkled man with leathery skin. His long, white beard swayed in the breeze as he scanned the horizon. His dark brown eyes strained as he searched for a sign of hope. Then, his gaze caught a far-off fluttering, a white speck alone in the sky. As the dove came nearer he thought he could see a thin green line near her mouth. His heart beat with joy as he re-focused his eyes, scarcely daring to imagine what he hoped for. The freshly broken branch, a picture of innocence, had been plucked from the earth. But the loss of its life gave a symbol of hope to all mankind. Hope of rebirth after death, hope of peace with his neighbor and with God, hope of a second chance to take care of the earth.
Back on the mountain the fragile young stem determined not to stop growing. Its roots spread broad and deep. Gradually the stock became a tree. Silvery green leaves covered its branches. Then came fruit, first green, then crimson, purple, and black. Over time the tree became the father of many trees. One day a man came up from the valley. He saw the olive tree and the small grove that had grown up around it. He didn’t know the tree, but felt drawn to it. He brought his 3 sons and they gathered baskets full of olives. When he crushed them, out gushed a fine, golden oil. Some of the oil he used for lamps, to give light even in the darkest nights. And some of the oil he used for a soothing balm, to give healing even to the deepest wounds. But the finest of the oil he saved for their table, to give wholeness and flavor even to the dullest meals. For as long as the man lived the olive tree shared its fruit. In fact, his children’s children and their children for a thousand years came back to the tree each autumn, at the time when other trees lose their leaves, and he collected the precious fruit. What a precious gift the olive tree had given. But before he died the man wrote a song, for in the olive oil he found a richer meaning that reminded him of the heartfelt needs of all humankind. And this is the song that he wrote:
Noah’s Song
(DARKNESS )
Out here on this restless sea
Tossed ‘round by the storm…
Will this rain never end?
Losing all sense of time
As all hope seems to fade
Will I see the sun again?
You, you’re the light in my dark
You’re the balm for my wounds
You’re the flavor of life to me…
(WOUNDS)
When even my closest friend
Fails to understand
Who will heal this wounded heart?
The world has turned its back on me.
I stand here all alone,
And my tears, they fall like rain.
You, you’re the light in my dark
You’re the balm for my wounds
You’re the flavor of life to me…
(BOREDOM-PURPOSELESSNESS)
When pain gives way to numbness
And all days seem the same,
Just another shade of gray;
When reason eludes me
Like the mist after the storm…
Why am I living anyway?
You, you’re the light in my dark
You’re the balm for my wounds
You’re the flavor of life to me…
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Perhaps the olive seedling was the father of all olive trees. The International Olive Oil Council in Spain acknowledges that Anatolia, (sometimes called Asia Minor, which is now the modern nation of Turkey), is the original home of the olive tree. In Turkey we call it the "immortal tree" ("ölmez ağaç" literally means "undying tree" in Turkish). The name, Noah (Noach) means "rest; comfort; long-lived; repose; peace." In the southeast of Turkey is a province called “Şirnak.” Pronounced a bit like “sheer-knock”, the meaning of its name is “city of Noah” (“şir” is from the word “şehir” meaning city and “nak” means “Noah”). Every year a holiday is celebrated in that region (and in neighboring nations too) where they make a multigrain, fruity pudding called Asure (“Aşüre” in Turkish, pronounced like “a-shur-ray”; sometimes called “Noah’s pudding”). This is said to be in remembrance of the pudding that Noah and his family ate on the ark. The picture of the dove and olive branch at the top of this post is taken from the Turkish Twenty Lira bank note. It is a reminder of a famous saying by the father of modern Turkey. "Peace at home. Peace in the world." ("Yurtta barış, dünyada barış." --Mustafa Kemal Atatürk). May it be so.
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