Let me read one of Aesop’s Greek fables; In the forest, there lived four oxen. They were very good friends and always went together to graze in the fields. However, every time they went, a hungry lion tried to attack them. The lion longed for their meat. But they withstood his attack by fighting him as a team. They attacked him with their horns and the lion fled to another forest. One day, the four oxen fought among themselves. They started going to the forest separately.
When the lion returned, he saw that the group was divided. He planned to take advantage of this situation. Finding the first ox grazing in the fields alone, he crept from behind and ate him up. The next day, he attacked the second ox and killed it too. This way he killed the third and the fourth ox too. Had the four oxen stayed together, they wouldn't have lost their lives. Moral Lesson: "United we live, divided we will be killed.”[1] From where came the popular phrase, "United we stand, divided we fall". This phrase has been used in mottos, from nations and states to songs. You may be familiar with a popular song "United We Stand" written by Tony Hiller and Peter Simmons and was first recorded in 1970 by The Brotherhood of Man.
I was very familiar with this phrase growing up in India. We were told how our early fathers, the freedom fighters stood united and faced the then mighty British Empire. It was our unity that brought us independence. The basic concept however is that unless people are united, it is easy to destroy them.
(From a sermon by Francis Balla, 8/24/2012)