Side by Side

 Unity. It's a powerful force, that makes all the difference in how our world works. People can only wish for a world where everybody works together to achieve a result that gives us a common good. Why people don't do this more often, I don't understand. One of the problems with our world is that we seem to find so many things that are different about us to justify separation, then finding things that we have in common. A thought that reflects on the quote by Bob Riley: "For too long, we have focused on our differences - in our politics and backgrounds, in our race and beliefs - rather than cherishing the unity and pride that binds us together." Unity is important to fight for, because Unity is the concept of working together, to improve on the environment that surrounds us. With 7 billion people in this world, a number that is both rising and falling, we can't afford to work as individuals, but rather as a group, and we can do this best, when we're standing together, side by side.

I know already for a fact that my family is big on unity. My parents always ask my siblings and I to work together, especially in those moments where we feel particularly unsympathetic towards each other. We have a poster in our living room that has a picture of ten to fifteen people in a long canoe or kayak. In bold, capital letters it says TEAMWORK across the top. Next to the canoe it says: "Together, we are winners." This poster speaks to me, because, beneath that phrase, in an implied sort of way is the reflection that if we win together, then: Separated, we lose. The famous Greek writer Aesop stated that: "...divided we fall." That poster reminds me of what could happen if I don't work together with my siblings and with my parents to make our environment, (which in our case, is our three story house in Ampang) a better place.

Already in ISKL, unity is a part of our curriculum. The SLR that demonstrates this is: Collaborate Constructively. I feel that this is, to me, one of the most important SLRs. All the SLRs in a way, connect, whether evident or not, with this idea. Reasoning Critically, for example, (as I learned in Band last year), isn't an individual concept, it can be seen as a group task, as you can Reason Critically by adding to an idea with other people's ideas. This form of work, seemed to work really well, especially when we were editing each other's portfolios. Collaborating Constructively is also important in school, because I know that I always tend to want to work with my friends, rather than others.

For unity as a country, I can think of no better place to start with, then Malaysia. Malaysia is made up of four main ethnic groups: Malay, Chinese, Indian and the Indigenous people--e.g. Orang Asli. Does the phrase Satu Malaysia sound familiar? It probably is, as it's EVERYWHERE, whether if it's in song form, on posters or in an extremely artistic way, this is something that living in Malaysia for 4 years has opened my eyes to. "Satu Malaysia", is a phrase and idea, that the more I see, and the more I understand, the more it grows on me. Satu or One Malaysia is an on-going program designed by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak (who has been in office since April 3rd, 2009) on September 16, 2010, calling for the country to draw more attention to ethnic harmony, national unity, and a more efficient exercise of authority. I think that the Malaysian government has done a great job in enforcing this way of life. This is a lifestyle that involves tolerance in a both racial and religion point of view. Hans Urs von Balthasar once said: "Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is."

An example of Unity in the World, is the Kyoto Convention, which you may or may not have heard of. Which either way, is fine, as I just learned about it a few minutes ago. The Kyoto Convention reflects on the fact that the Earth is a deteriorating environment, what with the mass destruction of Forests, which provide prized oxygen, and creates a balance in the ecosystems of the Earth. Not only that, but the emission of greenhouse gases and the burning of fossil fuels, effects our atmosphere, climate, and contributes to Global Warming. These effects are caused individually by countries, but can be fixed as a united world. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted on December 11th, 1997 in (surprise, surprise) Kyoto, Japan. It began its work on February 16th, 2005. Slowly, more "industrialized" countries agreed to sign this treaty, to cut down the amount of gases that they released into the air. You might think, then where does the problem start? And, though you might seem awfully pessimistic, you'd be right, because where there are solutions, there are often more problems. And, in this case that problem, starts with the country that I call home: the US. The United States, still to this day, refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Without the US backing the Kyoto Protocol, the ability to slow the heating of our atmosphere isn't very likely, because the US alone, produces a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases.

Unity. We revisited this word over and over in this post, and you've seen different views of Unity, which slowly, but surely worked its way from Family, and in our own Houses, to reach the World. Which, is eventually what it all leads to, doesn't it? If we look to our future, the world depends on a generation that will connect our World, to save our planet. And, it's now, in a reverse of format, that I put a fourth quote into your already questioning mind. "So powerful is the light of unity, that it can illuminate the whole Earth."- Baha'u'llah. Each individual has metaphorically, a candle, call it hope if you will, and when we put our candles together we have an enormous light, that shines and fills the whole Earth with a sense of harmony. It's up to each of us to keep that light shining.