Once there was a man who had five sons. Instead of living together peacefully and calmly, they were constantly bickering and fighting. Their father was fed up with their constant arguments, so he decided to teach them a lesson. He gathered five sticks, that were all the same size and tied them all together. Smiling smugly to himself, he called his sons. After the usual pushing and shoving, they finally stood in front of their father. “I would like you to take this bundle of sticks and break it for me.”He said The eldest brother smirked and grumbled, “I can do that easily!” He tried and he tried but he couldn’t break the sticks. The others scoffed at him and laughed. “Let me have a go.” said the second brother. Again he tried and tried, broke out into a sweat but he couldn’t break the bundle of sticks either. One by one all the brothers tried to break the sticks, but they all failed. “It’s impossible!” They cried “I’ll show you how it’s done!” said the father. He untied the sticks and gave each brother one stick each. “Now try.” He said Each of the brothers broke the sticks easily, they looked at each other in confusion. What was their father trying to tell them? Finally, he said “Let this be a lesson to you. When the sticks were tied together they were strong and unbreakable, but on their own, they were easy to break. So do you see, if you are united you are strong, on your own you are weak United we stand, divided we fall.”
