A father was troubled by the way his three sons were perpetually arguing with each other. Nothing he said could settle their disputes, so one day he called them to him and showed them a bundle of sticks, tied together by a piece of rope. “The one who can break these shall inherit everything that I own.”
 
The first son tried to crack the lot of them with his bare hands. The second tried to break it over his knee. The third tried to split them over a rock. None of them succeeded.
Then the father untied the bundle and handed his sons the sticks, one by one, and then watched as they snapped them in two without any difficulty.
 
“Now do you understand?” he asked. “If you are divided, you will be broken as easily as these sticks. But if you band together and act as one, you will be as strong as the bundle and no one will be able to harm you.”

United we stand, divided we fall.
 
11 1/2” diameter