United We Stand, Divided We Fall

“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” is a profound Sanskrit phrase from ancient Indian philosophy that translates into “the world is one family.” The phrase comes from Mahisha, Chapter 6, Verse 72. It signifies the unity of the world by picturing it as a family — a family that works in regard for the welfare of all. This unity in itself brings peace and prosperity to the world. But there have been times where this unity is violated, and the world has seen the destruction of humanity and exploitation of its vulnerabilities.

Today in this essay we shall analyse the unity of the world and how it teaches nations across to work together and learn to have a holistic vision, and on the other hand, we shall scrutinise the scene of the globe when the unity is violated — when the world altogether stops working — and what are the conditions one comes across during those times. A critical evaluation of the world’s working mechanism will drive us to a present-day conclusion and will help in shaping our opinion on certain diplomatic situations prevailing today.

Since the time homo sapiens moved out of Africa, there has been a chain reaction of rising and falling of empires. Humanity has seen the strongest empires collapsing to remnants. As they say, “The earth is littered with the ruins of empires that once thought themselves to be eternal.” As of today, the world can be seen as a diversified and organised empire, with its own existence of personal cultures and their exchange through globalisation.

For instance, if we look at the world map of ancient and medieval times ,compare it to today’s era, situation is more peaceful, not for all but let’s say majorly and diversely prosperous. The world organisation has taken remarkable steps in order to maintain this quality in a harmonious way. The development of UNESCO — United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — is a significant step by the United Nations that is working towards the scope of realisation and culture. This vision of culture across the globe helps individuals to learn and respect other distinct cultures, have a vision to view their vivacity and adopt the perspective to work and indulge in them.

Apart from UNESCO, we have exchanged culture and customs in many other ways. The constant process of give and take of literary media and cinematography of different countries allows the general public to learn about the world beyond the boundaries of their own nation. Since vision and words have a great impact on people, especially the young youth who want to explore the world with an aesthetic lens — who want to gain beauty even in the mundane — this type of exchange not only immerses citizens of a nation in the world of beauty and grace of global arts but also contributes economically.

BTS, for example, have contributed around 0.3 to 0.5% to South Korea’s GDP, which is quite significant for a music group. They are also huge when it comes to bringing tourism to the country. This can be seen as a good example of how media influences national and international growth, unity, and a healthy way to learn about nations, its people and their lifestyles.Unity among nations can also be analysed through trade relations. The more powerful the trade relation, the stronger is the economic bond between two nations. However, most of the time, these are temporary relationships. As governments change, trade between two countries either become a threat or a boon to their unity.

“United we stand, divided we fall”, is a quote by ancient Greek fabulist Aesop. The quote signifies that as long as unity prevails, stronger will be the stand, but division can lead to its fall. This is a scenario the world has witnessed numerous times — and even after bearing the consequences, it keeps repeating history. The major testimony for this is definitely the historical records of world wars and so many other wars that are forgotten.Stumbling upon the analysis of global wars, we witness the breakdown of world humanity machinery, leading to large-scale conflict and forgetting all the trade and exchange of diverse cultures in the years before. The circus of human life and its destruction has been invented by the so-called world leaders who record the life of civilian as nothing in front of their cannons.

“No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.” is a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation. Indeed, it is true that all the cultures, races, and religions are equally important for the survival of diversity in the world. And again, this same world has witnessed the persecution and genocides of races and religions — as of Jews in hitler’s Germany — and yet learnt nothing at all. In order to gain power, economic control and trade manipulation , world governments and leader get blinded by everlasting greed. The current committing of a mass scaled genocide in Gaza, in the name of ethnic cleansing show how suffering for some becomes never ending due to the increase desire of some elected representatives to cause agony to others in the name of politics and elections. People of Palestine are suffering without any medical aid and children are dying on daily scale with women facing sexual violence from soldiers with each bombing. Statistics of this vague treatment changes time to time.

Humans have indeed forgotten humanity.

All these wars — Israel-Palestine, Israel-Iran, Russia- Ukraine, China’s tension with the West and Taiwan, the escalating tension between India and Pakistan, and internal conflicts within nations — are a testimony to the breaking down of the unity of the world and all the long-drawn principles of globalisation and the charter of UNESCO. Noticing the results of these conflicts, it is easy to note that the breaking down of world cooperation mechanisms leads to repetition of same historical years of misery and suffering. Hence, as a member of a family, according to “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” all the nations should hold a strong opinion and a louder voice in overcoming these challenging times and work together again in synchronising and taking necessary steps for making humanity reach its glorious peak by learning through its past mistakes, analysing the outcomes, and saving humanity from becoming prey to another destructive circus. Existence of required peace policies and frameworks by world institutions like UN, with strict implementation without bias and a will to spread peace and to initiate mutual ceasefires will help in bringing down the current escalated conflicts.

Every problem is born with a twin and that is its solution. Hence, through deep and ethical investigation into war zones and detection of its cause can eventually lead to restoring the harmony between nations and can continue the process of learning of customs and traditions and grace each others presence through mutual respect because this is the trait that make this world a family and will cause efficient working of it as a whole.