For thousands of years humankind has been fighting each other over race, rights, equality, and territory. Humans have been fighting against each other, instead of working together and fighting problems together. An example of this was the Christopher Columbus which recently had been torn down due to political views. Just like everything else in the world there are always two sides to everything.  It should be replaced with something that represents our Italian culture and pride, as well as bringing our communities together.

               An olive tree would best represent the past, present, as well as future in rebuilding our community and expressing our Italian pride and culture. The olive tree is a symbol of peace, wisdom, prosperity, health, victory, and tranquility. All the parts of the olive tree can be related to our American lives. For example, the roots of the tree represent Italians and other immigrants putting their roots down in a different country. Throughout the hardships of immigration and the unfair treatment that was given to all immigrants, people still persevered to achieve the “American Dream”.

               The growing of the tree represents how Italians joined the labor force around the turn of the century. During the Industrial Age, Italians and other immigrants helped grow America to be the thriving and productive country that we are today. The Italians worked in factories and mines, as well as building roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Along with growth comes wisdom which is then passed on through generations.

Another point of the olive tree are the branches that would represent the reaching out to our communities through peace. This will symbolize the gathering of our blended cultures coming together. If we lived by this example humans will unite together ending discrimination and other problems in our society. The fruit produced from these branches, the olive, represents the idea that hard work and determination pays. This is seen in the prosperity in our American way of life today. In present day, Italians hold every possible type of job as well as live all over the country and have become a part of the American culture.

For these reasons I believe the olive tree would best represent Italian heritage in America today. From the tree’s roots to its branches and the fruit it produces you can see the story of Italian immigrants along with other immigrants. The dream for so many immigrants going back to colonial times is to live a life where there is a chance of having peace that goes along with being who you are and what you believe in, the wisdom to accept a new way of life where people are accepted, and there is prosperity to have opportunity to work and earn a wage. So, it is my hope that we can use the olive tree as a reminder of our elders and what they have done for us as well as our contribution for future generations.