The Great Escape - 5/16/2010

One hot summer day when I was about ten years old, Uncle Joseph took our family to a river in Savannah, Georgia, to go crabbing. Everyone had a great time, except for a few chickens and the crabs. We were amazed to see how easy it was to catch these hard-shelled delicacies.

The process was simplicity itself. We tied a chicken neck around a long piece of twine and lowered it into the water. From my perch high and dry on the pier, I waited until crabs were attracted to this poultry in motion. They fought for the grisly prize and clutched it tenaciously even as I pulled them out of the water, shaking them off into a waiting bucket. Using the same bait and line, I lowered it again and caught the next batch.

This was great! No worms, no hooks, no bobbers getting caught in the weeds, and the crabs actually helped you catch other crabs. As they fought each other, all of their crab thought-power was focused on the raw and tantalizing chicken neck. Being captured, pulled out of the water, and dropped into a bucket should have been a stark warning about their role in the culinary events to follow. But they weren't about to let another crab beat them out of the grand chicken prize.

Once caught, the crabs were also helpful in stopping other crabs from getting away. If one ambitious, foresighted crab climbed up the side of the bucket in a dramatic attempt to escape from Alcatraz, other crabs grabbed him and pulled him back down.

That day-trip with Uncle Joseph took place almost forty years ago, but I've never forgotten it. In the ensuing years I've learned that human beings sometimes mirror the self-defeating antics of those cranky crustaceans. Whether or not you've been crabbing on the Savannah River, you have probably been faced with friends, relatives, or business associates who try to pull you back into the bucket.

Most people want their friends to succeed, but if they move too far ahead or make positive changes that strike too close to home, watch out! A hideous claw shoots out, grasping for some way to maintain the status quo in their crab-inhabited universe. These clawers may be friends or competitors, but your new success or resolve contrasted with their failure or complacency makes them uncomfortable with themselves. They make sly, sarcastic, deprecating remarks about your accomplishments in a feeble effort to make their own mediocrity more palatable.

What these crab-people don't realize is that trying to hold others back is actually stopping them from climbing out of the bucket themselves. The act of belittling someone else's success or desire for improvement robs the crab-minded of their own opportunities for advancement.

The next time someone tries to bring you down a notch or two, just remember that he's probably upset with himself, not with you. And if you're on the opposite side of that winding river and get a twinge of resentment about the other person's success, remember that the accomplishments of our friends, and even our competitors, show us what is possible to achieve. If we have the fortitude not to act like crabs, our own success may be just around the bend.

PS – This essay was written by Sammy Smith, the gent who published my book, “Talking to Yourself is NOT Crazy.” Good job Sammy.

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