The White Olive Tree

Epilogue

"The White Olive Tree"

【Preface One】

First Edition

Author's Preface by Song Ran

This book was originally titled 'Floating World of The East' inspired by my journey to the Dongguo six years ago.

The conception began six years ago and penned four years ago, it has finally been published today. I am grateful for the unwavering support of the planner and editor, Mr. Luo Junfeng.

The title was changed from Floating World of The East  to The White Olive Tree for two reasons: first, despite my best efforts to traverse every city in Dongguo and record the various social conditions during the war, what I saw and recorded was merely a corner of the floating world, far from the grandeur of the real world; second, because of my husband, Lieutenant Li.

One year, on the way from Garo to Ale, we saw the white olive trees in the desert together. The specifics are written in the book and will not be reiterated here.

Writing over four years was not a process of meticulous carving and polishing, but rather because life took up too much time, and also because I could never remain a calm observer. Every time I picked up the pen to write and searched for materials, vivid memories would emerge, filling me with sorrow and slowing my writing. War has never been an easy topic. I have tried my utmost to minimize my subjective feelings in the text, wishing only to present the most ordinary and objective records to the reader. Even so, war is not something that can be lightly described.

It has always been one of the greatest tragedies in human history. Regrettably, such tragedies are repeated time and again.

I studied history in college, but the pain of war recorded in words are far less than one-thousandth of the real agony witnessed in person.

Before going to Dongguo, I could talk about war from a historical perspective, saying that war is the inevitable path when social contradictions accumulate to a certain extent and cannot be reconciled, saying that war and bloodshed are necessary processes in human development. Thus, innocent people become the sacrifices under the rolling wheels of history.

Even if given thousands of reasons, I cannot understand why humans would want to harm their own kind. Nor can I forgive.

There is one question I always ask myself: does our world lack compassion, lack enough kindness and love? Whenever I see people hurt, I feel pain, but I don't understand why some people don't feel it.

Having spent a long time on the battlefield, I began to doubt whether reason and civilization are just illusions; whether all human problems have no so-called rational solutions, only extremes, confrontations, and hatred, resorting only to slaughter; whether history always falls into a vicious cycle where chaos always defeats order, and barbarism always triumphs over civilization.

The ultimate dream of human peace, perhaps, is just like the white olive trees above the desert.

Brilliant, beautiful, pure, grand.

Once seen, it becomes an unforgettable, lifelong pursuit. Yet, it is also illusory, ethereal, far in the sky, elusive.

Perhaps, it doesn't exist at all. Just a fleeting mirage, the ultimate fantasy when people are stuck deep in the mire.

I am lost, unable to find direction, yet repeatedly pulled back onto the right path. Because later I found that the world might be dark, might be lightless, but individual kindness is like the sparkling pearls on the beach, even if you get hurt by the sand while searching for it, once you hold it in your palm, its shining, tender, and beautiful light makes you smile with no regrets.