WHO’S THE AUTHOR
‘You'll never walk alone’, written in 1945 by Rodgers and Hammerstein for the musical Carousel and best-known for its version by Gerrie and the Pacemakers in 1963, has touched millions of hearts and supported people throughout struggles and sufferings.
According to the internet, the saying “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together” is of African origin. Well, ‘African’?... The internet might just as well have described the phrase less accurately as “a saying from planet Earth”, because Google doesn’t tell us from which African country the phrase originates.
HOW TO APPLY IT IN YOUR EVERY DAY LIFE
You want to go far and you want impact. So the key question is ‘how do you get people to buy into your message and sacrifice time and energy to achieve the goals you have set?'
The head – heart – hands model is an easy checklist to see if you are playing all the elements to move your audience to action. The head represents our thoughts and intellect – it wants to be convinced by evidence, facts, logic. The heart represents our feelings and passions – it wants to be convinced by inspiration, perception, trust and experience. The hands represent action and implementation – they want to be convinced by a concrete ‘handy’ plan.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Just like another African saying, “It takes a village to raise a child”, these quotes underline the importance of the collective; it’s better to adapt to the speed of the slowest walker in the group than go it alone, because alone you won’t achieve anything.
NICE TO KNOW...
The song "You'll never walk alone" is often used to give people a lift in difficult times. In 2001, Barbara Streisand sang the song at the end of the Emmy Awards in memory of the victims of the September 11 terrorist attack in New York. And more recently, on the initiative of the Dutch radio station 3FM, the song was played simultaneously on 183 radio stations to give a helping hand to healthcare providers and patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart. And you'll never walk alone”.
