• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Heartspoken

Heartspoken

How to strengthen connection in a digital world...at home and at work

  • Home
  • About
    • About Elizabeth Cottrell
    • About Heartspoken
    • Elizabeth Cottrell Media Kit
  • Book
  • Services
  • Heartspoken Blog
    • Books-Reading
    • Connect with God
    • Connect with Others
    • Connect with Self
    • Connect with Nature
    • Note and Letter Writing
  • Memberships
    • Free Newsletter
    • The HEARTSPOKEN Circle
    • Heartspoken Ambassadors
  • Shop
  • Contact

We’re Stronger Together

We Are Stronger Together title with single matchstick and bundle of matchsticks
April 15, 2023 by Elizabeth H. Cottrell

I was honored to speak recently at an event for area nonprofit organizations sponsored by our Chamber of Commerce’s Nonprofit Council and the United Way of the Northern Shenandoah Valley. I want to share a story I shared with this group that has been, for me, an incredibly vivid image to illustrate the power of combining strengths and talents collaboratively instead of working competitively.

It came from the 1989 movie A Mother’s Courage: The Mary Thomas Story. You may be able to find it HERE on Amazon Prime. Mary Thomas, the mother of Detroit Piston’s great basketball player Isaiah Thomas, was a single mother raising her nine children in a Chicago neighborhood plagued by gangsters, drugs, and violence. In a moving scene, she gathered her children around her and emotionally told them they had to stick together, watch out for each other, and remember the values she had taught them.

To make her point, she held up a single wooden kitchen match and snapped it in two. I am paraphrasing her words, but she said, “This is what happens when we try to face this world on our own. It will crack and break us.”

Then she put ten of those matches in her hand, one for each member of their family. She tried to break the bundle, but it held strong. “This is how strong we can be,” she said, “when we stick together.

That scene has played out so many times in my mind when I’m tempted to “go it alone” or not ask for help. We humans are hard-wired for connection.

We should never forget that we’re stronger together.

Pin this:

We Are Stronger Together: title image of single and bundle of matchsticks
Share
Share
Pin
More
Email
CLICK HERE to Download Post as PDF
Category: Connection with OthersTag: Isaiah Thomas, Mary Thomas
Previous Post:Newsletter logo for the Note and Letter Writing EditionGet Note and Letter-Writing Tips and Support
Next Post:Earth Day 2023: Climate Change IS a Social Justice IssueSlum housing and children in poverty - Climate Change is a Social Justice Issue

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Judy Rodman

    April 18, 2023 at 1:20 am

    I love this post so much… it’s a concept that is I believe central to all realms of well-being, and civilization itself. I love the analogy of the matches, too. Will happily share it! The world would be a much better place if it catches on!

    • Elizabeth H. Cottrell

      April 18, 2023 at 10:25 am

      Thank you so much, Judy! Yes, in that movie, the mother holding up those matches as her nine children watched was so dramatic. It was years ago that I saw it, and I’ve never forgotten.

Quick Links

  • Home
  • About Elizabeth
  • About Heartspoken
  • Heartspoken Book
  • Start Here
  • Services
  • Blog
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Privacy Policy
  • Affiliate Disclaimer
Get Connected
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Bluesky
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

HeartSpoken

“Elizabeth has created one of the most valuable books you’ll ever own and will refer to over and over for years to come.” ~ Lydia Ramsey, Business Etiquette and Modern Manners Expert 

Buy Now

Copyright © 2025 · Heartspoken · All Rights Reserved · Website by Stormhill Media

Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions