Me vs Us versus Them

In this world, we are taught at a young age that it is a man eat man, dog eat dog, everyone for himself kind of situation. We are instructed to look out for number one and not worry too much about anyone else. We are told you have to look out for yourself because nobody else will. And let's face it, who cares about anyone else as long as you get yours, right?

This seems like a sound strategy, at first, as long as you don't really think about it. But once you do, you will realize that it can't really work for everyone. Sure, it works for some but it can't work for everyone. The only people who are going to get what they want are the ones that are willing to beat down or deprive others, those willing to force their way through and take from others so that they can have what they want.

Some examples of the extremes of this type of thinking being the general way of life are places like Somalia and some of the  Middle East. You have a few bullies and bad boys, those that are strong or powerful enough to live at the top of the food chain and everyone else suffers. Even most of those in the middle and bottom rungs of society are still only looking out for themselves. They just don't have the will or the means to get where they want to be.

It is not just those places where that mentality really doesn't work though. It really doesn't work anywhere. Why should anyone ever be willing to give you what you want if you aren't going to give them something in return? If you are not looking out for their interests there is no reason for them to look out for yours.

Once you start looking out for other people's interests as well as your own, things start to change a bit. Then it is no longer you against the world. You become part of a team and it is then us against the world. While there are more concerns with more people, there is more power as well. More people can do more work faster and handle more obstacles than each individual alone could ever hope to do.  Sure you will need to make concessions and compromises. But once others see that you are willing to do so, most of the time, they will as well.

Besides, the word us brings with it a kind of tingly warm and fuzzy feeling. You are no longer alone in looking out for your best interests. And that, in and of itself is a very rewarding feeling.

Us vs Them is better than Me vs the World. But, it still bears with it many of the same problems, just on a larger scale. In the Us vs Them scenario, it is your whole group vs the people and problems that you encounter that are not a part of "us" Because there are more of you, it is easier to force your way through and to simply push people and obstacles aside. As you do this though, you make enemies of "them". Then "they" are more likely to put up resistance with each further encounter. Sometimes this resistance will hardly even be noticeable. Other times it may threaten to destroy all that you have worked so hard to obtain.

The only really viable way to prevent this is to always or at least whenever possible create scenarios that work for all involved so that everyone gets what they want or at least the closest reasonable proximity.

You may not all live in the same place or have exactly the same goals, but if you are all looking out for each other each willing to make compromises for the other, there is no reason not to work together to make sure you all get what you want.

This way, each time, you fold more and more people into the us category, until you run out of people opposed to you. As opposition disappears and your goals become easier to achieve, Us vs Them will gradually work itself into We vs Nobody.

And We vs Nobody truly is the best system.