Love And Unity

Without love and unity, a lot will be left unresolved, deteriorated and issues will always get complicated.

The assertion “No man is an Island” as thought by Mr. John Donne over a couple of centuries ago has not ceased to gain prominence. “No man is an island entire of itself; all man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea; Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as any manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind. Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”. Without love and unity, a lot will be left unresolved.

In light of the above-quoted words of John Donne, it is evident that no single being is entirely independent and it is human nature to rely on others as a basic art of survival.

Indeed, every human needs food to survive and in this regard, every human that feeds on food invariably depends on the farmer and such is like the connection of humans in all other endeavors. No soul is self-sufficient, but with love and unity, we can reach a greater height.

Love and unity undoubtedly, is an indispensable tool for nation building. Unity cannot be divorced from the description of a nation. An example of this is the meaning given to a nation by Wikipedia: “A nation is a stable community of people, formed based on a common language, history, ethnicity, or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.”

The mentality that an Igbo man is generally treacherous, a Hausa man is intolerant, and a Yoruba man does not even accommodate his fellow Yoruba is indeed a threat to national prosperity. Tribalism is a nation destroyer.

Cultures and indigenous values must evolve bottom-up policies and approaches to oneness, growth, and development in the country. Every culture in Nigeria has different unique foods, modes of dressing, modes of production, language, greetings, marriage, mode of socialization, and political systems that could be annexed for development. Even values like love, hard work, honesty, bravery, care, extended brotherhood, and filiations are now negatively rationalized as individualism and profit concerns take center stage as imported through globalization.

Aside from culture, another unifying factor is sports. Sports is more than ever before commanding global attention to all nations. Sports influences world peace, the economy, and the development of social relationships. Also, recent research suggests that sport-based programs focused on children and youth in areas of conflict. It also offer a means of both resolution and in turn, reconciliation and reintegration of communities.

Successful nations in the world have one thing in common: love and unity. The list of prosperous nations on earth is incomplete without the mention of the  United States of America (USA) and China, with much consideration of what the USA and China have achieved as a country.

Although both countries are not crisis-free, but their citizens are united more than they are uncooperative. This informs us of why “God bless America” which was a song composed by Irvin Berlin in 1981 during the first world war, has been widely adopted by Americans as their national slogan of patriotism. Therefore, the slogan becomes the symbol of unity of the Americans.

James Dobbins, Seth G. Jones et al., in their book: “A Guide to Nation Building” observed that the primary objective of nation-building is to make a violent society peaceful. This is only after the attainment of this economic and political objective be pursued. The view of James Dobbins et al., poses a question, how can a society be peaceful? The answer to this is not far-fetched as peace is only attainable in a society where love and unity prevail amongst its constituents. This implies that lack of cooperation between people, cultures and ethnic groups at large is a threat to the peace of a nation.

Therefore, it is known that without peace, the primary objective of nation-building cannot be achieved. Also, the attainment of peace in its entirety is impossible without the spirit of love and unity. It is only with the spirit of love and unity can people of different cultures peacefully co-exist in a country and its only upon realization of this a government can achieve its economic and political objectives. Love and unity indeed is a vibrant tool for nation building.

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About Author

Hammed Lawal

Hammed Abiodun Lawal is an Nigerian author, short story writer who writes debut short stories. I was born in the city of Ibadan and all my childhood was spent in Ibadan and completed my first degree from Ladoke Akintola University Of Technology and also learned the creative writing at Lautech. Hammed also writes colums about the youth, career development and current affairs.

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I also ensures an excellent working environment for all to perform at their best, and derive joy in reading and research about new adventures.

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