As a child, I was a huge fan of two comedians who referred to themselves as the Smothers Brothers. One of their albums was devoted to Aesop's Fables. On this album, Dick Smothers enthusiastically told the story of "The Bundle of Sticks". In all sincerity, he discussed how a father talked to his quarreling sons about the strength of numbers and the power of unity. The father demonstrated this by showing that one stick alone could be easily broken but a lot of sticks together could not. The father said that the effect is the same when people unite. Tommy Smothers then exclaimed, "The United Sticks of America!" and the audience roared with laughter. I thought about what Tommy said over the past few weeks, only this time I wasn't laughing. I was dead serious about the fact that the "United Sticks of America" was exactly what we needed to become.
I have been a counselor for almost thirty years. In that time, a lot of elections have taken place. I have never seen the kind of reaction from clients that the outcome of this election has generated. Large numbers of people have been spending huge amounts of time in their sessions just trying to process all of their feelings and concerns about it. For two weeks, I have been dealing with everyone's shock, confusion, anger, hopelessness, anxiety and helplessness. The consensus, pardon my French, is that we are royally screwed!
It occurred to me in the midst of hearing all this, that it is not a small group of people who have issues about our country's future - it is a large, massive group. I suddenly recalled Aesop's fable about the sticks, and had an epiphany of my own. "We have to all ban together!" I concluded.
I began to talk to clients about the bundle of sticks and encouraged them to take action. "You may not be able to change the outcome of the election," I told them, "But that doesn't mean that you are helpless. There are lots of things that you can do. You can contact your local democratic office, ask what their plans are now, and how you can help. You can repeatedly write to your representatives about your concerns. You can start petitions. You can join organizations that address the issues you are worried about and volunteer for them. If everyone with a concern simultaneously does this, they will be raising their voices to the level at which our leaders will have to hear them". No one thought that these ideas were far-fetched. Several people said that they were going to do exactly what I advised. I decided too, to take my own advice and get involved. I then said to one of the clients, "Look - something good is already coming out of a bad situation - people have decided to become more involved with their community."
A lot has changed in society since I first heard the Smother's Brothers talk about Aesop's fables. However, in spite of all those changes, it is amazing how the stories can still have meaning for us today!
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