Exigencies of the age

EXIGENCIES OF THE AGE


The greatest divisive factor that has also been the greatest binding factor in the history of mankind has been the development of language. Language serves as the bone of contention between men, but it had its cohesive value too. Language served as the medium binding men into groups and societies, language gave us a medium to recognise our friends and foes.


The biggest foe of mankind has been nature ever since our evolution. The foe served to unite us into a single society. The fear of nature brought us together in groups. There had to be unity between the individual members of the groups because an isolated individual was at a greater threat of attacks from nature. This brought out the need of unity. Unity has always been the greatest need of the hour ever since man took his first step.

The first steps gradually became a great leap as men were thus forced to come together in groups, and eventually into communities. Disunity transformed itself into unity with the passage of time. The transformation in the dominant mentality came into being when they were threatened by nature and its forces. Man realised that there lies strength in a group. It is not easy to harm a group, although isolated individuals are always prone to attacks and threats. Mother Nature has taught this lesson to us in its own particular fashion, the exigencies of all ages have taught us the important lesson of unity in a typical manner. The incumbent state of affairs have demanded a speedy solution of the problems, and all problems have been solved by virtue of unity. They forced us to unite to counter the incumbent problems. Mother Nature has shown us that it can be kind and beneficent to us, but it has also shown us that it can get ugly at specific occasions.

These specific occasions were what brought these groups together. As unity among groups manifested itself into a community, the need of unity was brought to the fore. Unity was all the more required now. Communities are quite competent to counter the adversities of nature, or any other threat, in whatever form it may be delivered. Eventually, they realised that unity fosters peace, a luxury that has been treasured by us ever since we learnt to use language. They had to counter any forces fostering disunity and conflict because a conflict would have meant a disruption in their peaceful lives. The greatest urgency for unity was created when we realised the merits of a peaceful life, and the requirement of unity for peace.

Peace could be the most desirous entity of our lives. Peace could work miracles in our lives. Since there could be no peace without unity, unity emerges as the greatest need of all times. The most amazing factor is that unity has to prevail amidst the apparent differences. Communities have to live in unity. All communities have to live in unity and harmony despite the differences they harbour. All communities must embrace the principles of unity despite these differences.

Differences tend to foster conflict and disunity, while unity gives rise to peace and happiness. We must givve priority to unity in our lives if we want peace and happiness. We must recognise unity despite the differences among us.

The prevalence of differences is not such a serious threat if it is viewed in a positive manner. A smooth functioning of the society requires a division of labour, this means that different groups in the society are assigned different tasks. All of us performing different tasks have to coordinate with each other for a peaceful coexistence: there still has to be unity among us. Division of labour does not imply difference of opinion or difference of views because this could lead to conflict. There should be mutual cooperation and respect for each other. Therefore, unity in the world implies cooperation among the nations and mutual respect for each other. Unity emerges as something that could change the flow of time, it could even rewrite the books of destiny. Unity seems to be the entity that is capable of rotating the globe around its axis. The earth seems to derive its beauty from the virtues of unity.


Unity has always been the greatest need of the hour in all ages and times. The quest for unity always leads to peace, so if we want peace, this means that we want unity, this means that we must have unity among us. A peaceful coexistence demands a sense of unity because peace entails from unity. We have to recognise unity despite the differences among us.

The differences among us did not begin to manifest themselves before we realised the need of unity. There have always been differences among us. There were differences between individuals. As the individual evolved into diverse communities, even more differences gave rise to more disunity. Differences grew as communities evolved into cities. These manifested themselves in the form of differences of colour, race and gender. The differences eventually became so pronounced that it urgently requires a solution.

A solution is being sought to the problem. Immediate attention has to be paid to the differences and the ways in which these could be dissolved. These differences divided the individuals that formed the group, they divided the community and they divided the cities and our societies. A society provides its members warmth and comfort, so the sense of being a social being continued to be the binding force: only society could provide the sense of safety and security all of us yearn for. Differences only serve to rob the society of its basic aim and objective. A society cannot provide its members with warmth and comfort if its members are divided by differences.

Greater differences gradually entered the society in the form of cast, religion and sect. Entropy has been increasing consistently, so much so that it has become the greatest problem of the contemporary age. It has been a problem plaguing mankind ever since, and it will remain the problem it is unless immediate steps are taken to redress the issue.

The issue assumes graver proportions as several different individual cities are recognised as states. Different states, as in India, have boundaries demarcating them. These boundaries do more than just separate individuals living on either side of the border. They initiate friction between states. Individual states contend for supremacy and attention from the Centre. States in India are divided on the basis of language. The boundaries of the individual states are carved out on the basis of linguistic differences. They are virtually linguistic regions that use different languages. Differences in language have even initiated the partition of undivided India into sovereign nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The problem of disunity has thus migrated to nations.

The problem of disunity is not confined to the Indian subcontinent alone. All the nations of the world face the same problem in the modern world. Disunity is like the termite that eats into the furniture in our drawing-rooms. Disunity could eat into our lives unless we took immediate steps for its disposal from the world. The world would emerge as the biggest loser if disunity were allowed to grow. The world could certainly emerge as a better place to live in if only unity were given a chance to flourish. The world could be a beautiful place to live in if only there were unity among all the nations of the world.

All the nations of the world need to realise that the only solution to the problems they face is unity. Unity could be the solution to most of the problems faced by almost all the nations of the world. All the nations of the world face more or less the same problems of poverty, hunger and disease. Individuals living in different cities and societies all over the world face the same problem all over the world. Hunger and poverty could be wiped out from the earth if all the countries came to a single platform.

The single platform could be the world parliament. The world parliament could be the stage conceptualized by William Shakespeare when he said 'All the world is a stage, and all men and women merely players'. All the different nations of the world could be the men and women that Shakespeare talks of performing their roles on the stage. There should be a common stage on which the nations should enact their parts.

The parts make up the whole. The whole is more important than the parts. All the nations of the world make up the whole World Parliament. This could be the stage that could unite the nations of the world. All the individual nations would have to execute their roles in a responsible manner. Before everything they would have to dissolve all the differences and unite under a World Government. A World Government would ensure peace and happiness all over the world. Bows and arrows that gave way to nuclear weapons would finally metamorphose into peace and unity.