E Pluribus Unum

My dearest readers,

since the last post stressed the individual commitment and yearning for success and—as pointed out by annotating and challenging readers—nearly eradicated the collective road and role of success, I want to make up for this void and write about unity, where a squad of conscientious, strong-willed people can complement one another and create an invincible band of brothers, where many become one!

A strong bond is driven by courage, selflessness, and sacrifice, where it is less the individual who accomplishes a mission, but even more so the collective. It is of no concern to stand out in excellence, but it is of concern that the collective reaches the goal, all together. Sir Edmung Hillary once stated that “[t]here is something about building up a comradeship—that I still believe is the greatest of all feats—and sharing in the dangers with your company of peers. It’s the intense effort, the giving of everything you’ve got. It’s really a very pleasant sensation”—the everything you’ve got, for the success of the bond. Success is no longer experienced by you alone, but as a reward for all, as a shared experience that you all worked for. You gave your everything, and so did the rest, for you all to eventually cross the finish line.

Your strong bond calls for compliance and comradeship. There is no space for self-interest, no room for what “I” want. There’s only a “we,” and the “we” becomes the one; and committing yourself to a collective is indeed a pleasant sensation, because your weaknesses are effaced. There is a brother or sister next to you who makes up for your weaknesses, and likewise you make up for his or her weaknesses. You may not have eyes on the back of your head; but you know sure as hell there are others that watch and got your back and back you up. No longer is it you alone “who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat” (Theodore Roosevelt)—but you can bet your life on your brothers doing exactly just that. You’re a synergy, a collective of ‘good’ individuals, merging to become ‘great.’

Then the battlefield of life becomes your playground, not just for you alone, but for your brothers who are out there with you, where it is not you in particular who’s singled out for greatness but your band of brothers, a collective stronger than hell that pulls on the same string. Many become one, and suddenly you're surrounded by the few and the proud that march with you, go the extra step with you, and the extra mile for each other, confident, convinced, and determined with the steady belief to do what is best for the well-being of all. Whatever challenge there is that you feel incapable of accepting alone, know that there are peers you can count on, just as they count on you; and—as I must stress again and again—what way is then too far, what mountain too high? Take a moment, (re-)think of the mountain peak, and “[a]ccept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory” (George S. Patton Jr.)—march right into it, have many become one, for then you all get to reach for the stars and feel the exhilaration of victory, e pluribus unum, boom!