Earthly Paradise

My father loved skiing, bungee jumping, mountain climbing, Formula1 racing, sky diving, scuba diving, and God knows what other insane stuff he loved doing. But why am I using the past tense? That's right, because he's dead. Even though I stopped him from doing anything that could’ve been dangerous to his health. I hid his passports every time he mentioned going to some place that might hurt him. I even didn't speak with him for days when he told me that he wanted to be at the top of the world… Mount Everest. Of course I didn't let him do these crazy things but he, somehow, found a way to die!

I didn't know how he "died", or exactly when. All I knew then is that he'd died a week earlier in Africa. But I was sure he didn't die like normal people do. He must've died while hunting lions or struggling with snakes. He always did things in the hard way, the adventurous way. And obviously, he wanted me to do things his way.

The reason why I'm saying this now is that he left me a will. But he didn't say what he wanted to say straight forward. I had to decode what he wrote in his will to find what he wanted me to find, what he called 'the treasure'.

 

"Valuable things are there for you and for the sake of your trip let me give it a name 'the treasure'. A big part of the treasure is at NASA. First, you should walk, or even crawl through a small door to meet the mother who's going to help you. Then, a father will help you too. After that, go back to the gate of heavens to find life in a place of death and to find delicacy in a hard place and to unite with the ultimate beauty. After doing all of this, I hope you'll be able to see the treasure. But be aware that the beginning of your trip might be disappointing but believe me when I tell you that when you finish your journey it'll be worth it. Beginnings might be disappointing but they are important, very important, maybe more than you think."

P.S.

to help you in this, I left some cash in a safe in my office in the second floor.

You don't have to look thoroughly to see the treasure

with love, your father

Okay, first things first. I had to bring the money. I went up to his office and I saw the safe and tried to open it but it was locked. There was a combination of three numbers to figure out. To do that, he left another paper, another riddle.

 

I don't want to hold you for long on this one, so the riddle is easy and you probably already know it…

"a tree that has twelve boughs, every bough has about thirty twigs, and each twig has twenty four leaves."

 

Piece of cake, it's 'a year'. So the combination was 365. I tried it and… "YESSS, it worked!" I exclaimed as the safe opened her arms to me but I didn't have time for hugging because I had to be using that money to travel to the USA without postponement.

That was the third time I travel to America, but it was my first visit to Texas. I'm not sure I can call it a visit. It was more like an exploration trip. But I thought that I won't leave a single place in the United States without visiting it when I would find the money. But before finding the money I ought to be on my way to the city of Houston.

Within hours, I was at the front door of the headquarters of NASA. It's a very big door, so it wasn't the door my father mentioned in his will. The door in the will is small and I needed to find it quickly to meet the mother who was going to help me in finding the treasure. I imagined her as an old, big woman, probably Latino or African-American. Every time I tried to draw a picture of her in my mind, I remembered that big lady who guided Homer with her wisdom from The Simpsons Movie.

After five or six minutes, I found that door but there was a fence between us. But since when a fence or a wall could stop us! So I climbed that fence and approached the small door. Then, I saw a shadow of a big figure drawn on the ground in front of me, "it must be the mother's shadow." I thought. I turned my head to see whose figure that shadow was. That big figure was nothing but a huge officer. At first, I didn't know why he was holding handcuffs in his hands. Few seconds were more than enough to answer my question, he wanted to shackle me. That big-muscled man handcuffed me and informed me "You have the right to remain silent. Any th…" I thought this right was only a right for US citizens. Maybe it was but the officer didn't recognize my true nationality. And truth be told, I hate being handcuffed or being forced to silence but it felt really good to almost have rights for once.

I really wished to visit every single place in the USA. But honestly, the police station wasn't one of these places. After a cup of coffee and two donuts, a cop stepped into the interrogation room and stood across the table and slid an envelope to me. "What's in it?" I wondered, and it seemed that that cop was capable of reading my mind as few words were able to make their way out of his pizza-filled mouth. "A letter… for you."

At first, I thought that the cop mixed me up with someone else but he was right, it was for me.

 

"Hahaha… I can't believe you wasted your time in traveling to America. But don't worry, this is the beginning I told you might be disappointing. But you have to admit that it was a nice touch from me, making you think that you got closer to the treasure when you did nothing but crossing half the world away from it."

Don't give up

I felt the world conspiring against me. But there was something I couldn't believe, my father loved to joke even when he was dead. But at least, I knew then that the treasure was in Palestine. The logical next thing to do was taking the first flight back home.

My father told me not to give up, and I wouldn't. I am not a quitter. I wished that that Boeing 747 could fly any faster! I had to find what I was looking for, and I had to find it quickly.

After a long travel I was home and went directly to my house. But only after about ten minutes, two British old men rang the bell of my door. My father was their friend and he had told them before he died that I will guide them in the streets of Bethlehem. I had totally forgotten about that but we had to go to Bethlehem, the two gentlemen, I, and 'Sami' the only friend whom I told about the will without wasting time.

After hours of touring the old city of Bethlehem, the two gentlemen finally decided to visit the Church of Nativity. Their decision probably came after spending almost all their money on buying souvenirs.

We reached the front yard of the church, and when the first man tried to enter the church he had some difficulties due to his knee arthritis. So it was hard for him to kneel in order to go through that small door. It is believed that the door was built so small so the visitor of the church would bow to the sanctity of the place.

The four of us were inside. The scent of the votive candles and incense filled our noses. The sparkling paintings on the glass glimmered in our eyes, especially that painting of The Virgin Mary holding her child. "Wait, wait, she is a mother… could it be?" I thought. It was the first piece of the riddle. I had to go through a small door, and then there was the mother.

I told Sami my thoughts and he agreed with me. But then it was time to solve the second piece of the riddle. "A father will help you too." It was time to know who this father was, and to find him. Sami was quick in his assumptions as he promptly said, "It's the trinity, the father, the son, and the holy spirit," but I said with confidence. "No, it couldn't be. My father didn't say 'the father' but he said 'A father' 'A' not 'the' A… A… eureka… I bet it starts with an A. in his will he said "the biggest part of the treasure is at NASA," the Church of Nativity is the letter 'N' so the father must start with an 'A' they are the true initials that together form 'NASA' that's why he said that beginnings are very import…" I didn't finish my theory because Sami rushed in assuming again shouting, "ADAM" "Yes, of course" I replied in joy, "Adam Muhammadi, a friend of my father's. He must have an answer."

I went to see Mr. Muhammadi. He didn't recognize me at first but when I told him who my father was he said in a tone suggested that he was expecting me, "Oh, yes, your father is… was a good man," then he asked me, "He left you a puzzle?" "Yes," was my answer and I also told him the whole story and where did I get until then in decoding the will. What he told me afterwards was short, but enough, "When you think about this puzzle, you should think in a holy way, and in this specific part of it, you should think in a hollow way too."

Holy and hollow and starts with 'A'. It became easy. The father is Abraham. He's holy. I mean he's a messenger who rests in a cave, a big hole. And he's the father of the prophets.

Our next destination was Hebron. It was the first time I visit Hebron in this millennium but Sami had been there a month earlier. I think I should pay a visit to the cities I've never been to in Palestine. The taxi dropped us at Bab Ez-Zawyeh, not far from the old city where Abraham Tomb lies. But that day was Thursday and people were like bees on a mission. The streets were paved with people from everywhere. The alleyways of the old city were decorated with the shouts of vendors and peddlers. The 'wows' of the tourists were like a theme song of that place.

More than an hour had passed, but it felt like minutes to me. It is astonishing how a few minutes, or even a few seconds in a place can take you back thousands of years so that little generator in your skull starts generating millions of stories about that place.

My eyes were captivated by the majesty of the site. They were prisoners in a sweet prison. Please! Any judge! Any one! Just sentence me for life in that prison. Nothing was capable of distracting or stopping me except that rusty revolver door set by a pack of soldiers. I'm not one of them. I even hate thinking about joining them. I think there's still some humanity in me. But what I hate the most is mixing me with them. They and I are on the opposite poles of ideology. I won't say 'feeling' because I'm not sure that they even feel even though that they have hearts. But their hearts are rifles and shotguns, M16s and Tavors. They do have pulse, but they only pump bullets.

After being searched thoroughly, I stepped on these soldiers, unfortunately, only in my mind. I didn't care much about them as I was inside the mosque and all of the hideous pictures of the low-life soldiers had been cleansed by the purity of the mosque.

I didn't want anything. All I wanted was a little bit of that, a little bit of heaven. Luckily, I had a bit of it when a young boy gave me a cluster of grapes. Honestly, at first, I thought the cluster was artificial as it looked like marbles, gorgeous and shiny. When I put a grape in my mouth and the juice burst out of it I felt a twitch. Something just pressed my ignition key.

I had to "go back to the gate of heavens," then. Sami rushed again, I almost forgot that he had come with me, and concluded "I know this one, "go back to the gate of heavens," means that you should go back to NASA," but I replied, "No, going to NASA was never part of the answer so I can't go back to a road that doesn't take me to my goal. That road doesn't even exist on the map that should lead me to the treasure. It's Jerusalem, my city. It's where from prophet Muhammed ascended to heavens. It is the true gate of heavens. We should go there… WAIT! Let's think in reverse, 'N' refers to 'Nativity'… 'A' to Abraham. I bet that 'S' refers to 'Sepulcher', the Church of Sepulcher. It is where Jesus is buried. It's a place of death and I must find life there. Why stop here? The last 'A' is for 'Al-Aqsa'. My father wrote "the ultimate beauty" 'ultimate' means 'Aqsa' in Arabic. Besides, he said "to find delicacy in a hard place," something that is hard, a rock, "the Dome of the Rock" I mean, c'mon! It makes sense, it even comes to your mind automatically, 'between a rock and a hard place' my father used ' hard place' to make it less difficult to me.

All the thoughts ran in a non-stop motion in my frontal lobe. Like there was something that pushed these thoughts to flow like that. Like a train, connected trailers, connected ideas that altogether formed the key to my father's riddle. Probably, the Hebronite grapes helped a lot. I felt so genius, and so blessed.

Talking about blesses, I was in a very blessed city, Jerusalem. The third location to check was the Church of Sepulcher. I walked in the narrow alleys which I know by heart. I can walk, even run in these alleys with my eyes closed. My ears were my guide. I heard a choir singing, but their melody was not just waves of sound, it was vocal oxygen that gave me life. It's life itself. I went inside to become more alive. It's strange to feel more alive in a burial ground. If my burial ground is going to be like that one, then I wish I was already dead.

I went out of the church but I wasn't sad because I knew that what awaited me at Al-Aqsa wouldn't be less divine. And, what was there for me after I figure out the riddle will be splendid.

I tried to make my way into the mosque, but that day was Friday. The number of people at Salat Aj-Jum'a was too large to let anyone in. so I stopped, waiting, but as I was waiting, I looked around but that golden dome caught my eyes from far. Like the crown of a beautiful queen. I just couldn't take my eyes off it. The sun rays reflected from the dome glistened on everything, and everybody, they shone upon me. I felt illuminated. And when the soothing breeze blew through the cedar and olive trees, it carried with it that smell, a smell of a life, a new life, a better life. The taste of Hebronite grapes was still fresh, and the scent of the candles and incense was tingling in my nostrils again. The melody of the choir was stuck in my head, but that's okay, I didn't want it to fade away. If Plato was right, that we are a reflection of heavenly beings, then, this land must be a reflection of heaven itself.

Serenity. Everything was clear then, and only then I saw it, my father never said "to FIND the treasure," He said "To SEE the treasure," It was never hidden. It was here all along and we didn't have to look for it. All we needed to do was appreciating it, embracing it. The treasure is not in Palestine, it is Palestine.

I am in unity with this land. There is nothing and no one can part me away from it.

I was taken away by the magnificence of the scene, of the feeling. I think that Adam Muhammedi had been standing there for hours but I didn't notice him. He said to me while approaching me, "You see it now, don't you?" "Yes," I gladly replied, "Now I can see the treasure." I continued. "Your father must be proud of you" he said. "I hope he is, from somewhere above" I replied. He smiled while saying, "Yeah, above, about nine kilometers." "Maybe a little more" I told him with a smile on my face and a seed of a tear in my eye. But he confidently replied, "No, no. Not more! But it's not how high he is from the ground that matters but how high is his spirit after what you've done, and what he's done too. Now he can die in peace, the ever-rest of his soul."

I couldn't see my face but I think its color has changed a billion times when I heard that from Mr. Muhammadi. Then I said in shock "Nine kilometers, ever-rest, Everest. You are not joking, are you?! He's going to kill himself" I said with surprise and I can't deny that this surprise was the most pleasant surprise in my life.

Mr. Muhammadi laughed so hard before preaching me, "Son, death knows his way to us and he'll take it no matter what we do or we don't, but it's life that we should pave the roads that take us there" I kept silent, looking at the horizon. Ten or fifteen minutes have passed before he asked me, "So, what are you doing tomorrow?" "Nothing" I answered him "You know, tomorrow's Saturday."