Reminded of one of the childhood stories about what unity means in a family.

A father and his four sons used to live in a small town. The four brothers used to always fight with each other. They loved each other, but could not get to do anything together. The father was worried that people will take advantage of his sons very easily and wanted to teach them an important lesson.

One day, the father calls all of his sons and tells them to collect the sticks lying around the yard and bring it back to him.

The four sons go around the yard to collect the sticks, and bring them back laying all the sticks in a pile.

The father hands every son one stick and tells them to break the stick.

All four of them were able to break their stick very easily.

The father then collects the pile of sticks and ties them together.

He asks his first son to break the pile of sticks. The first son tries hard, but is unable to break it.

The second, third and fourth son also try very hard to break the pile of sticks, but find it very hard and impossible.

The father looks at the sons and tells them

“All of you were able to break the sticks when it was only one stick. However, when there are a pile of sticks, it became hard to break. Our relationships are like that. Any outsider can take advantage of you if you are alone. When you are together, no outsider can break you. When you stick together, you gain more strength than you can as an individual. Try to retain that bond as you grow.”

United we stand, divided we fall

We may have difference of opinions amongst family members, but we are still one family who needs to stick together, no matter what! So that no outsider can take advantage of us! Everyone’s perspectives might vary over a period of time in life. The longer we remember to stay together, united, not letting an outsider break us apart easily, we stand to benefit.

Although a simple childhood story, there is a lot of truth & wisdom behind it!