Smrikva Bowl Tournament
Ambassador's Olive Tree
Smrikve, August 2005
In 2005, for the 10th Smrikva Bowl anniversary, we started a tradition of planting an Olive tree. The Olive tree selected needs to be older than the oldest man living on the earth today. The tree that we planted for the 10th Smrikva Bowl is over 150 years old and happens to come from Spain.
During the ceremony, every Ambassador put a tiny piece of land close to the root of the Olive tree and say his or her name. This way the tree gets the names and a piece of soul of each Ambassador. In 2005 the tree got 100 names coming from over 20 countries and from 3 continents. Every year a new old Olive tree receive the Ambassadors’ names from many countries and continents.
The Olive tree is a symbol of peace. The age of the tree is a symbol of intergenerational responsibility. Every person is born without knowing anything about life on this earth and it is the responsibility of every generation to understand and to learn to preserve all that each of us is born with, so as to possibly improve upon it prior to departing.
The people that planted this Olive tree for the first time are no longer among us and the message this Olive tree transmits to the Ambassadors is that intergenerational responsibility alone will allow future generations to enjoy the beauty of life, the sunsets and the seasons of the earth.
Miodrag Bozovic
Smrikve, March 2008
AMBASSADORS’ OLD OLIVE TREE AND THE CIRCLE OF LIFE…
The Lion King cartoon is an artwork and most of the life messages one can find in it are in line with the Smrikva Bowl. They are in line with the message of the Ambassadors’ Olive Tree; they are in line with the values of friendship and love; they are in line with empathy. Love, friendship and empathy are all Cosmopolitan values per excellence, as far as people and humanity are concerned.
The relationship between Mufasa, Sarabi and Simba reminds me of both: parents and family love, but also about the intergenerational responsability. Timon, Pumbaa and Simba relationship reminds me about love between friends. Pumbaa also make me think abuout empathy, intuition and loyalty. The relationship between Simba and Nola reminds me again about the importance of love. Rifiki, the wise old baboo, with his many centuries old tree reminds me about the importance of the knowledge and experience of the older. There are many other particular moments that every person on its own, based on his or her own life experience, discover by watching these artworks.
You might be interested to know that most of the characters’s names in this cartoon have a particular meaning in Swahili language: Simba means “lion”; Nala means “gift”, and love is for me one of the greatest gifts that people can receive and give during their life; Sarabi means “mirage”; Pumbaa means “dull-witted” or “stunned”; and Rafiki means “friend” :). These names with their meanings make me think of the American Indians and the way they used to give the names to their people.
Every person is born without knowing anything about life on this earth and it is the responsibility of every generation to understand and to learn, to preserve all that each of us is born with. When Mufasa was explaining to Simba that is not easy to be the King… a good King should know that everything around us lives in a delicated equilibrium and with intelligence we should try to understand it and respect it. The intergenerational responsibility alone will allow future generations to enjoy the beauty of life, the sunsets and the seasons of the earth. Enjoy the circle of life.
Shimon Peres, the Nobel Prize for Peace, was a guest speaker to one of Ambrosetti’s Young Leader Group meetings. It is a tradition that every guest speaker dedicate few words to the Group and he wrote down the following:
“The future is always in a minority. Yet the history of the future is more important than the history of the past. It is for the old to remember the past. It is for the young to build the world of tomorrow.
Do it! You can build a world without wars. You can build a new humanity.”
Everything around us lives in a delicated equilibrium and with intelligence we should try to understand it and respect it. It is true that every generation face new challanges but there are many examples in the past how the old generations managed and solved particular problems and this is way the knowledge, the human curiosity and will to learn are important.
Miodrag Bozovic
Please visit www.smrikve.com to learn more about Smrikva Bowl, one of the most important under 10 tennis tournaments in the World, and Villa Smrikve and future Smrikve Village, for your accommodation in Stinjan (Pula) if you decide to spent your holiday in Istria, Croatia. In Villa Smrikve you can enjoy tennis, sea, good istrian food, Smrikve wine and olive oil, and events in Pula and Istria.
