One day not too long ago, I was walking along in the rain and I happened to see a little pin lying on the ground. It read, “United We Stand.” That little pin left an imprint on my mind and I began to think about the aspect of unity. Unity is from the Latin word unitatem (nom. Unitas) meaning “oneness, sameness, agreement,” from unus “one.”
Unity is a cherished element of time. Even when Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence he expressed the importance of unity when he said, “We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” However, unity does not have to be just a large scale endeavor. Unity can be achieved on a smaller scale as well.
Unity to me is like creating a single unit out of many different individuals. Like John Dickinson said in “The Patriot’s Appeal,” “By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.” Unity is like forming a team, in the literal and metaphorical sense. The individual parts that each person has must help create parts for another teammate. Each person is responsible for encouraging one another to experience their talent and provide as much as possible. This encouragement is necessary to make another teammate successful in their endeavors. Unity can be achieved when each member makes sure that others on the team are utilized to the best of their ability.
At times I believe that people may appreciate the concept of unity, and they like the act of creating it, yet they are still selfish in a way and do not want to put in a large amount of personal effort to exude the ultimate value that unity creates. The success of every individual is inextricable bound to the success of the whole team. As Mia Hamm once said, “I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team. I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.”
I believe unity is two people or more who want to and create the best outcome they can. Unity is undividable, unbroken completeness. When we create unity, we create a totality of oneness.
“All for one; one for all” – Alexandre Dumas from The Three Musketeers.
Hi, Peter . . . I read your story in The Daily Advocate, of Greenville, Ohio, a day or two after you had passed through here. Sorry, I missed meeting up with you in person, but I have been following you along your journey. I am enjoying the trip . . . of course I have been sheltered from the rain and storms, and comforted by my air conditioning on those 90 degree days.
I admire your courage and fortitude for undertaking such an adventure. I can’t begin to imagine the faith it takes. Your Fruits of Solitude are especially inspiring to me. Along the way remember that God is with you, and so am I.