Daily Times

Recently I happened to recall a story from the famous Aesop’s Fables called The bulls and the lion. The story is about a lion which has been watching three bulls feeding in an open field. He tried attacking them several times, but they huddle together and help each other to drive him off.

The lion had little hope of eating them, for he was no match for three strong bulls with their sharp horns and hoofs but he could not keep away from that field, for it was hard to resist the temptation of a good meal, even though getting that meal appeared impossible. Then one day the bulls had a fight. When the hungry lion came to lick his chops and watch the bulls as he did each day, he found them in separate corners of the field, as far away from one another as they could get, making it easy for the lion to attack them one at a time. The moral of the story: united we stand, divided we fall.

Although this story has been very simply narrated, it contains a deep philosophical message. In the words of Aristotle quoted from Politics: “Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.”

Just the fact that man does not have the ability to survive or fend for himself on his own, prompts him to live in groups with others of his kind, which culminates in what we understand as civilization.

Of course, history educates us about the rise and fall of different civilizations from reasons of their prosperity to factors affecting their downfall; from peaceful coexistence to civil wars; from rustic beginnings to sophisticated living and from social integration to total collapse of institutions, every aspect has been studied and analysed in depth. One thing is clear. Societies have hardly ever been homogenous. People of various ethnicities, religions and ideologies get together, live together to form a heterogeneous social setup.

It can be argued that the ability to unite the people lies only in the hands of those in power, because as individuals, our personal prejudices are far too strong

Variety and diversity are the spice of life! However, this spiciness can be converted into an exotic environment or it can be embittered by the introduction of prejudices towards each other. In case of the former, an underlying strength can be seen that sustains a group of people protecting them against a common enemy, while in case of the latter, it does not take long for the powerful to force them into submission or even annihilate them completely. A clenched fist is stronger than an open hand, yet we conveniently forget all about it, yet we continue to denigrate members of society who belong to other races and do not look or think like us. Such practices cause fissures which expand into gulfs, making it possible for potential opportunists to make the best of such situations.

It can be argued that the ability to unite the people lies only in the hands of those in power, because as individuals, our personal prejudices are far too strong. Just like most concerned parents endeavour to keep the family together, good statesmen endeavour to keep their people united. For example, Akbar the Great who ruled over the Indian Sub-continent from 1556 to 1605 had to deal with many ferociously independent clans which were hostile to one another and also viewed the Mughal Empire as their biggest enemy. To retain his hold, especially in those days where means of communication were not that advanced, Akbar needed peace, and that entailed encouraging diversity. To achieve this unity, he had to engage in various tactics which included both harsh and conciliatory measures. In more recent years, Indonesia stands out as a country where internal factions facilitated the Dutch in colonizing it but President Sukarno’s (1901 to 1970) efforts helped not only in getting independence but also in unifying the different groups of the country. Both these rulers belonging to different eras and regions had the common conviction to establish unity.

Unity envisages tolerance, respect, love and care for other members of the community. Where malice and hatred exist, they breed contempt which generates feelings of callousness and insensitivity towards others. When this occurs, the bond between different types of people starts weakening, culminating in tearing them apart, thus depriving them of the strength to withstand the offensive onslaught of enemies. Pakistan is a country that is located in a blessed region where many shades of communities belonging to different ethnic origins, religions and speaking innumerable languages have been living together for many centuries. They are all gifted with talents that can be fruitfully utilized by our rulers. One sincerely hopes that our future government will not leave any stone unturned to improve the inter-provincial, inter-faith, inter-caste and inter-community relationships in Pakistan so that unity reigns supreme and the nation is well protected from malicious interventions.

The writer, lawyer and author, is an Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)

Published in Daily Times, June 21^st 2018.