The Third Alternative

I received an interesting book for Christmas written by Stephen Covey titled the 3rd Alternative. I have only read a small part of the book so far and my interest has been captured. In the introduction Covey suggests that wars are created because the majority of people function in two alternatives and compromise ineffectively. MINE and YOURS are the two most common alternatives of interaction between people/s. Meaning that everybody has their own agenda, and consider that their way is the right way and that compromise is limited to who can get the most out of the compromise.

Interestingly the third alternative is the OUR. How simple is that OUR. I have been saying OUR for years. I have always believed that if we work together we can produce a bigger and better outcome. After reading the introduction and moving into the first chapter Covey is already suggesting that the majority of human behaviour is based on the individual rather than the communal or the them against us mentality. There are a number of other examples in the book that I won't put in here, but you get the idea.

Indigenous Australians have always functioned in the communal rather than the individual and over the years I have heard many different people suggest that the communal represents the inability of the individual to achieve. I do not believe this because the majority of the individuals that I know who have achieved outside of the community in which they live bring those skills and knowledge that they have learned back to the community or they provide a voice by representation for the community whether they remain within the confines of that community or not. At first I was thinking that this meant that Aboriginal Australians function in the third alternative, however after putting the concept into some perspective I have found that Indigenous Australians whether they function outside of the community or not are operating under the first two alternatives. Why you ask? The answer I think is because even though some Indigenous Australians are achieving in the wider community and they are representing a voice for their people they are still thinking locally and not globally. Each one has their own agenda for their own people but all have similar or the same goals and that is to improve the lifestyles and longevity of Indigenous Australians. This leads me to the third alternative. The OUR. Theoretically if these people are all working to attain the same goal surely the OUR is a much better prospect than the MINE or YOUR alternative. 

Having said that I shall keep reading and see where the third alternative takes us. So far it is appearing to be the smart way to resolve issues facing oppressed societies not to mention the rest of the world.

Extremely interesting read.

Life is Good!