Crabs in a Bucket

I remember as a kid being at the beach for summer vacations. On occasion, we’d see people “crabbing” off the dock. Maybe you’ve done or seen this too.

They’d drop those metal cages to the bottom of the ocean. The cage is empty, but the food is enticing, and the door is open.

After a while, they pull the cages and they’re full of crabs.

And I noticed that as a crab would move to escape, others would simply grab them and pull them back down. Seems like you don’t need a gate to keep them in. They have each other!

Reminds me of the Eagle's classic hit Hotel California – “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

The crabs are the Hotel California.

How many of us are in the Hotel, surrounded by crabs and trying to get out? Crabs just love to pull us down into their world of gossip, negativity, misery, blame, and excuses.

Crabs don’t have anything good to say. Crabs complain about the weather- too hot, too humid, too windy, too rainy. Crabs complain about the food – too hot, not hot enough, slow service, too expensive. Mostly crabs complain about others.

These crabs live below the line by choosing blame, excuses, and denial. Let’s live above the line by choosing ownership, accountability, and responsibility.

What’s that saying? “If Bob has a problem with everyone, maybe Bob is the problem.”

Crabs choose to be victims – unconsciously pulling each other back down into the cage. They create more Bobs.

Let’s choose to be like the kid who woke up on Christmas morning only to find a heap of manure under the tree. Yet, the kid is not discouraged because he has an extraordinarily optimistic outlook. His parents find him shoveling manure as he exclaims, “With all this manure, there’s gotta be a pony in here somewhere!” Not a crab. Not a Bob.

Be the kid, not the crab.

And if you don’t stay out of the Hotel – you might never leave.