United We Stand Divided We Fall

In Aesop's Fables about the Bulls, when the four Bulls, who were friends, stood together with their horns facing out and with their backs together, the lion could not harm them. But when they would argue and quarrel, and go off alone sulking, the lion could take them down, one by one.

In Aesop's Fables about the counsel of a dying father to his four sons, the father counseled his sons that if they were united, they were much stronger than if they tried to do things alone. He illustrated this counsel by giving the sons a bundle of sticks, wrapped tightly with twine. The sons could not break the bundle of sticks, but as the father would pull one stick out and give it to each of the sons to break, the sons found that it was easy to break just one stick.

Abraham Lincoln's utilization of the Savior's counsel in the New Testament was inspirational in saving the Nation. Matthew 12:25 "And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:"

As I talk with people today about the economy, and the stock market in particular, there is a lot of angst (concern) and anger. A lot of this anger is focused on those whose greed has contributed to the problems we are now facing.

What if everyone did the right thing for the right reason? Would we as a people be as productive as we are without a profit motive?

The older I get, the less need I have to compete. In fact, I enjoy less and less those games where there are winners and losers. I prefer to compete where there are winners and winners.

I love to work. I love to play. I love to be productive. I love to be prosperous and happy. I would rather do these things in a spirit of synergism, where everyone is better off, than in a spirit of competition where there are winners and losers.

The stock market today has a lot of losers. These losers in many cases are determined never to play the game again. The greed of some players stacks the cards against fairness. In many cases, winning and losing, competition, power, greed, and money destroy the benefits of unity.

How can we develop of system, where we are still productive, and where synergism trumps the success of competition.

In Mitt Romney's book "Turnaround", his conclusion is that he and his family are much better off from their public service than they ever would have been by producing more and more money. The benefits (currency) of an efficient and successful commitment to public service far outweighed the monetary success of creating more and more money.

This sounds like an interesting recipe for our future economy, where united we stand and divided we fall.