OLIVES – FRUIT OF LIFE, KNOWLEDGE, LIBERATION AND LOVE

          Many of us look at this coming January 20th as a day of liberation. We voted for President Obama because we believe that what is most sorely needed is the ushering in of a new age,

          In this new age, we hope to see the rolling away of a curtain that has been placed over so many areas of knowledge in the luddite hope that people would remain forever ignorant of various scientific potentialities and of information that would enable them to make more informed choices about how they go about managing many aspects of their personal lives. Religious fanatics sought, many times with success, the suppression of such things as stem cell research, and birth control and sexually transmitted disease prevention information. Women were, in the belief of these people, supposed to subjugate them selves in all things to some biblical role of servant to men; to remain silent; to obey; to conceal themselves lest they stimulate in male psyches and egos a lusting after intimacy. Men, on the other hand were simply admonished not to “sin” in protocols that rarely involved punishment for them where the infractions were against the interests of women. In some extreme “cultures” if a woman is assaulted by a man, it is the woman’s fault, and her family may kill her for having been assaulted and bringing dishonor upon them. Women in these cultures are regularly mutilated in their genitals to prevent their ever deriving pleasure in intimacy. Children are only to be taught creationism, and evolution, not mentioned in the Bible with sufficient specificity for the fundamentalist mentality to be able to sort it out, is to be deleted wherever possible. The world, according to the “family values” constituency is a snap shot and not a moving picture, and the snapshot of what God supposedly wants from you was taken during the short period of the earthly life of Christ.

          The more educated people become, the better able they are to make intelligent decisions for themselves. They no longer need to be ruled and regulated with harsh, judgment inhibiting regimentation. Those who live to tell others what to do and not do abhor education. Education deprives them of their victims. They need a world of ignorant people whom they may direct to whatever ends they believe should be served. The ends which these people seek are all too frequently unjust, unfair and oppressive. Fundamentalists love to attack, verbally and physically, those with other views. Wars of mindless slaughter are waged over opportunistic doctrinal differences. Always in the background may be heard the contrapuntal rhythms of fundamentalist self serving and profiteering on the backs of their “followers”. There are very few poor religious leaders. God mongering is always lucrative. If you want to find the motive for the action, follow the money.

          This bleak interregnum in the march of enlightenment is, we hope, over. It will be over in the sense that individual respect and freedom born of access to information will loosen the bonds of fundamentalist, evangelic oppression.

          To be sure, like any liberated oppressed people, there will tend to be an initial period of excess in which the deposed fundamentalists will proclaim “See. We told you this would happen”. That celebratory explosion will resolve in the short term to more mature and reasoned enjoyment of the privileges of sentient living. Hopefully we can keep the fundamentalists under their rocks for a very long time.

          The world is celebrating the liberating potentialities of this American election. The enlightened world really does want to get along with a strong, free and beneficent America that does not believe that there is some divine right to regulate by threat and by bribery, with the phony pretext that there is consensus where no consensus really exists; but there is pretextual consensus as long as money is attached to adherence to the regimen being promoted. For $ 10,000,000,000 a month, the government of Iraq, for instance, pretends that American military presence is helpful to the resolution of their internecine disputes. If the money were to disappear, they would gleefully return to slaughtering each other over religious differences, Shiite versus Sunni and tribe against tribe, as they have always done. They can then go back to their common bond being their mutual hatred of everyone else. The sooner they return to their natural selves, the more easily will lay the heads of the rest of us. We have no business placing our armies in their midst in some ridiculous attempt to Westernize and democratize them. If they wanted that, even for one moment, they could bring it about themselves just like everyone else has done who wished for that kind of society.

         With the advent of a less threatening America will come – we hope – a recognition of lessened threat and a return to doctrines of mutuality of consent and mutuality of prosperity. Those who claim to love peace must recognize that prosperous people usually do not threaten their neighbors. It is the impoverishment of ideals and economic security that most frequently becomes a casus belli.

          Like all sacrificial celebrations, something consumable becomes symbolic of the movement. I nominate OLIVES. Olives bespeak eternality. Olives abide. Olives move from bitter to delicious with exposure to sun and to tender loving care. Olives fit in everywhere. Olives enhance meats and cheeses. Olives symbolize enlightened romantic enhancements of life and art. Olives come in all sorts of gastronomic configurations. They enhance every occasion, from romantic picnics to the dry martini.

          I have configured a recipe for the olives of Aquarius. I present it as a variant for your delectation as you enter this new and hopefully happier time. Like all recipes, I do not claim it to be original with me. I am certain that someone, at some time, has done something similar in the past.

         Mix together in a very decorative bowl the following:

         3 cups of first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.

         To this add three cloves of fresh minced garlic, a teaspoon of coarse sea salt, a tablespoon of coarse ground black pepper and a pinch of fresh Greek oregano. (What? You don’t have ready access to fresh Greek oregano? Uproot yourself and your family immediately and move to where you do have access to fresh Greek oregano. Grow your own!)

         Add the zest of two lemons and one orange (some planed zest and some the minced product of a channel knife).

         Add a half cup of minced sun dried tomatoes.

         Stir that together and allow it to macerate for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

         Obtain from a Middle Eastern grocer a quart of their “olive medley” mixture of various kinds of olives – do not include any highly seasoned or citrus marinated olives. Among these will be small black and green olives and larger black and green olives – as you enjoy this for some weeks and months, you will change the olive blend to your own tastes. Mix these into the olive oil.

         As you enjoy them from day to day they will become more delectable, and you will find you are eating them even for breakfast with bread and cheese. Put the bowl on the table at every meal and at every wine enjoyment occasion.

          Place the bowl, covered, in the fridge every night and take it back out in the morning to come up to temperature. Replenish the dwindling supply every week as you consume them more aggressively.

        You will find that you are changing your diet to include more foods that go well with these olives, and that the dietary change is a more healthful and delicious approach to your personal gastronomy.

         I wish you all long life, good health, love, good music and much sunshine.