| By Anshuman Nagpal Grade: 5 |
Rabindra Nath Tagore said once, “If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone.” It indeed is true when it comes to achieving individualistic aspirations and goals. But if something greater, something meaningful, something larger than life needs to be accomplished, then one is a very small number.
Let us take the case of India’s struggle for Independence. Mahatma Gandhi could not have achieved what he did if he had not got the backing of millions of Indians who came together for the common cause. This is an apt example of what we can achieve with unity, and togetherness: different people working together for one aim.
Unfortunately, unity is not very easy to accomplish. There are four steps that one must keep in mind before a team attains unity.
First, the team must identify its goal. Every member of the team knows the group’s goals. Without a clearly defined finish line and plan to reach that finish line, everyone in the group will go in different directions and will not know what to do.
Second, everyone in the team needs to identify their goals. Without clearly defined roles, the group may not be able to do anything which is assigned. There will be too many leaders – too much fighting, resulting in a delay in achieving goals, leading to missed deadlines, errors, and failure.
Another virtue that one must have in one’s group is trust. Trust upon one another is most essential to be an effective team. One must have faith in one’s teammates and trust that they will complete their goals.
Last but not least is an open communication between members of the group. Everyone has heard the proverb, ‘Speech is silver. Silence is golden’, but it is not true. As Mark Sanborn rightly said, “In teamwork, silence is not golden, it is deadly.” No one should be quiet in a team. It is essential to have open communication, where each team member can speak his mind without fear of offending others or being offended by opposing views. If everyone keeps these essentials in place, one can accomplish even way too difficult goals. As Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” Unity also fosters courage. One should not be afraid to get into unknown realms or walk on unfamiliar paths as one knows that one would have the support of his/her group to rely on.
Ever wondered why the world is able to combat a catastrophe as big as COVID-19? It is because each one of us has agreed to obey the safety norms formulated by the World Health Organization and conveyed to us by our respective governments. Wherever there is togetherness in thought and action, it has always led to success. Remember, one cannot lift a glass with four of one’s fingers; one needs all five to do it. Whether it is a family, a community, a nation, or nations, one can achieve even the tasks that seem initially difficult or impossible by working together.”
Hence, one can say without an iota of doubt that unity has always been and will be one of the key elements in humanity’s way of living life. As rightly said by Mattie Stepanek, “Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.”
