Once upon a time, there was a man who had many sons. The sons, on the other hand, were always fighting with each other. As the man became older and weaker, he became worried that his sons would ruin themselves if they continued to fight. He begged them to live joyfully and peacefully together, but no one listened to him and continued to act in the same manner.
One day, the old man called all of his sons together and handed them a bundle of sticks which were tied together. "I want every one of you to take this bundle of sticks and break it," he said. The sons tried to break the bundle one by one with all their strength, but they were unsuccessful. "Please accept my apologies, father!" "No matter how hard we try, we can't break this bundle!" said all of his boys.
The old father then opened the rope that bound the sticks together. He then handed a stick to each of his sons. "Now, my sons, try to break it!" he exclaimed.
The single stick broke easily.
"What does this mean father?" the boys questioned.
"No one will be able to break you if you stay together, just like these sticks," the old man continued. “Many individuals in this world will take advantage of you when you are single. If you stay together, you can face any challenges."
They all learned a lesson and realised the importance of one another.
As we remember this meaningful fable, my thoughts go to our own country, which is today needing someone like this old father to tell us that it is time we came together, so that we could become stronger. Today, we are a country of ‘single sticks’ and maybe the newspapers don’t talk about it, nor television, but everyday the law and order situation is getting worse and it’s time for us to move from being such solitary sticks to becoming a ‘bundle’, strong and united!
I look around and hardly find anyone who will be able to lead our nation in doing this and leading us to a fitting solution to this frightening situation, both in our country or throughout the world, so till we do find that someone, let us start with a thought:
Let’s start listening to the other side.
Yes, today we react like grenades or mines hidden under a pile of rubbish, and as soon as a tank passes over we explode.
Let’s stop reacting this way, and start working out that there’s another side to the story. And start listening. After we do that, we decide how to react.
So, if we want to become united like the old father demonstrated with his meaningful story of being strong like a bundle of sticks, then we need to start listening to the other stick..!
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and author. He blogs at www.bobsbanter.com and can be reached at bobsbanter@gmail.com
