One of the miraculous things about children and youth is that they often believe that great things will become of their ideas. “Why not? What’s there to stop it?”, they’ll say.
So it is with the youth in our story. They so yearn for peace. Peace in their land, and around the world, and in their time. They so yearn for kindness, for compassion. They so long for enough of an income for the farm that they live on in order to survive.
Writing this song-cycle, I was also attempting to discover what should come next. I had some music ideas, and had done some somewhat disturbing research on Bethlehem now, and I wasn’t truly sure of where to go with things.
As a family, we always loved to stop at one of those booths at an agricultural fair, which we were somewhat junkies of, and sample those delicious spreads, especially the salty kinds. (Sigh, this memory has a particular poignancy during these Covid times.) We’d purchase a few our favourites and the inventor of these wonderful recipes would be grateful that our kids wouldn’t stuff themselves up on crakers.
There’s nothing like a great spread in the fridge to go to for something special, an added flare. Spread a little on almost anything and the taste seems to sparkle in a brand new way. Sometimes these jars last for months. There’s probably a dozen in our fridge right now, virtually all of them used at least a few times each month.
You might have a favourite of your own. Or a favourite of your own creation, perhaps.
A great, great uncle of mine used to drink a bottle of ketchup every day. Can you imagine? (No, it wasn’t Heintz.) There was some special recipe that he literally couldn’t resist. The constituency wasn’t so thick then and down another bottle would go after dinnertime. “At least there’s no alcohol in it.”, our great, great great aunt would say, and she was comforted in that observation.
What if you were a youth, living in Palestine, with an incredible olive spread recipe. One passed down through generations, perhaps, or a brand new one created on an impulse and a dream.
What if this you truly believed, as did everyone who would ever taste the spread, that this was the most incredible spread ever, and that it’s taste and fame would be spread around the world? What if you believed that the ingredients, as printed on the label, could bring about peace in our time?”
“Peace on Earth” is the angels song, and it is still heard today around the world every day, in every language and especially now. It’s the meaning of Christmas, after all.
Now we have our Holy Land Tour Bus stopping and a group of youth hyped to sell them all on their amazing spread.
'One Way Olive Branches Spread' Take a look before you now It's clear in all directions We would like to show you how A taste can near perfection And if your wisdom will allow This rich and great selection We would not have to bear the pain Of potential rejection We'll ship it all around the world In cases, each of twenty For with a taste, desire abounds And this way, you'll have plenty Your friends will want to know for sure The source of this great pleasure And you can proudly tell them where There's plenty in good measure Think of all the goodness In our 'One Way Olive Branches Spread' Try it on a cracker Then imagine on your favourite bread Spoon some on a salad Or try baking it in homemade pies You will want forever this Please give it one try! Have no fear in what we say The truth is in the telling As you for sure are soon to find The taste is quite compelling And if your wisdom will allow This rich and great selection We would not have to bear the pain Of potential rejection Think of all the goodness In our 'One Way Olive Branches Spread' Try it on a cracker Then imagine on your favourite bread Spoon some on a salad Or try baking it in homemade pies You will want forever this Please give it one try! One try, one try! Written by David A. Buckley (SOCAN) © 2006 all rights reserved
‘One Way’ Olive Branches Spread