Motto: 1. A word, phrase, or sentence chosen as expressive of the goals or ideals of a nation, group, etc. and inscribed on a seal, banner, coin, etc. 2. A maxim adopted as a principle of behavior.
The United States of America has a motto. It was inscribed on its Great Seal, which was adopted by the Continental Congress on 20 June 1782. It has appeared on its coinage since 1795, and on $1 bills since 1935:
E pluribus unum [Out of many, one]
It’s about unity, originally about the uniting of the 13 separate British colonies to become one new, independent country.
It has come to mean the unique ethos of that new country—the fundamental character and spirit of American culture—the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, and practices of American society—the ideal and inspiration of the people of the United States.
It has been suggested that the origin of the expression can be traced back to Cicero’s paraphrase of a saying of Pythagoras, regarding basic family and social bonds as the origin of societies and states. Cicero wrote, “When each person loves the other as much as himself, it makes one out of many (unus fiat ex pluribus), as Pythagoras wishes things to be in friendship.”
A much older expression of this ideal is found in the Hebrew scriptures (Leviticus, 19:17-18):
You shall not hate any of your kindred in your heart. Reprove your neighbor openly so that you do not incur sin because of that person. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
Jesus gave us a still higher standard, “Love one another as I have loved you!”
If you’re Catholic and your neighbor is too, you have something in common, a similarity in religious affiliation—but you’re not the same. If you vote Republican or Democrat and your neighbor does the same, you have a similarity in political affiliation—but you’re still different. If you’re male, and your neighbor is female, you have your humanity in common, but you’re not the same.
Loving your neighbor implies loving him/her in spite of differences and diversities—for no two persons are, have been, or will be 100% identical, no matter how many similarities or commonalities they may have.
In 1623 John Donne wrote:
No man is an island,
entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friend’s
or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind;
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.
The one God made the one world we all share. The one Lord redeemed everyone in the whole world. We form one human family, and should be united in spite of our diversity
E pluribus unum is a motto for everyone!
3 May 2020