United We Stand
UN International Day for Tolerance
by Claire Law
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To consider the meaning of stress shielding and what it means to be stronger together.
Preparation and materials
- You will need around 20 sticks about 40cm in length, gathered from fallen branches.
- You will also need around 1m of garden twine or string. 10 of the sticks will be left as they are. The other 10 need to be gathered into a bundle and then the string wrapped around and tied to secure the bundle. Have this bundle hidden out of view.
- To support with cleaning up, you may want to have a large sheet or tarpaulin on the floor to catch any bits of twig.
- Pre-arrange for adults to volunteer with the initial stick breaking task, if students are reluctant to get involved.
Assembly
- Welcome the student to the assembly.
- Explain that you have a challenge for the students today.
Ask the question: Who is feeling strong?
Explain that you need 11 people to demonstrate their strength. The challenge is not that difficult. It will involve breaking some sticks.
Hold up a handful of the twigs. - Invite 11 volunteers to the front to be part of the experiment.
Give 10 of the volunteers a stick and point out that they are going to demonstrate their strength all at once. The eleventh person is going to have a solo spot at the end for the grand finale! Ask the eleventh volunteer to stand to the side so all the other volunteers can be seen. Ask the students to hold their sticks horizontally in front of them and on the count of 3 snap their sticks in half. - Count 3, 2, 1 – GO!
Participants break their sticks. - Give the 10 students a round of applause and ask them to sit down while you prepare for the grand finale.
Point out that the eleventh volunteer will be demonstrating their solo strength.
Explain that, as it’s the finale, the volunteer gets lots of sticks and that you will count down to them breaking the sticks in the same way as earlier. - Count 3, 2, 1 – GO!
Participant tries to break their sticks.
This will be more challenging, and the participant will hopefully struggle to break them all swiftly. Allow them 20 seconds or so to try and then bring the attempt to a close. - Point out that this challenge seemed more difficult. Encourage a round of applause and ask the volunteer to sit down.
- Ask the students whether the eleventh person was weaker than the other volunteers, or if there is a different reason why they couldn’t break the sticks.
Listen to responses.
Obviously the eleventh volunteer’s challenge was more difficult. Frictional forces between the sticks in the bundle distribute the force of the break attempt across multiple sticks, rather than concentrating it on one. This distribution of force is known as ‘stress shielding’, it makes the bundle significantly stronger than its individual parts.
The challenge shows that the sticks are stronger together than when they are divided.
Time for reflection
There is a motto which states that ‘united we stand, divided we fall’. It is a phrase that helps us to understand that when people work together and collaborate, they become a powerful unit. A team of people with a range of skills and a breadth of talents can be a very effective team. A person trying to do it all alone is unlikely to be as skilled across a large project as a team. Someone who looks to alienate themselves and act alone may be more vulnerable when challenges come their way.
We can be divisive as humans. We can move away from people or groups of people, alienating them and ourselves in the process. We can divide and split away from people, acting as if we are an individual twig, rather than part of a bundle. Sometimes we do that based on first impressions, or from a place of judgementalism. That process of moving away from other people, alienating them and us is at the heart of prejudice, discrimination and hatred.
30 years ago, the United Nations launched an annual International Day for Tolerance. The aim was to help humans appreciate the values of being united, working together and being tolerant, rather than rejecting of difference. The International Day for Tolerance is celebrated each year on 16th November and aims to help raise awareness of the importance of tolerance for a healthy society. Tolerance means accepting difference. It means holding a fair attitude toward those whose opinions, beliefs and practices are different from our own. The UN International Day for Tolerance aims to promote the values of tolerance, and to challenge divisiveness.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Please help us to celebrate the ways in which we are different.
Thank you that you have made each unique individual.
Please help us to value and celebrate the uniqueness of others.
Help us to be remember that we are all created in your image.
Help us to be tolerant.
Help us to be understanding and accepting.
Please give us the courage to stand up against discrimination and prejudice.
Amen.
