Time to Kick the Barrel
“Crabs in a barrel” is a phrase used most frequently in circles of the oppressed. It speaks to the negative actions displayed by the community from which one came. This phrase derives from the fact that if you put multiple crabs into a bucket, and one discovers how to climb out, the rest of the crabs will hold on, break limbs, and even kill to keep it from escaping the bucket. My question is this: does this apply to your life? If so, how?
Whether kept in a tank, net, or bucket; whether captured or born into this predicament, the crabs are all there with the same dream, and that is to get out. They desire to see something beyond the walls of their current view. They no longer find joy amongst those who look like them. The want no more of the everyday routines, occupying the same space with those who share the same thoughts. For them, it’s time to find liberty through the pursuit of happiness.
If one has been given long arms and legs with sharp claws, maybe it will escape. Or, perhaps, one is clever enough to develop a technique in which it piles calculated massed beneath it. Then, maybe it can escape. Escape to what, though, a boiling pot that only wants to devour its gifts? Or, perhaps, a different tank that offers so much diversity, it is the only crab there?
The meaning of that phrase seems to be common knowledge. It implies that a person with the mindset of doing better has to not only deal with the regular obstacles of life, but also those imposed on him or her by his or her own community.
This is a very one-sided expression of frustration. “If I’m striving to be great, why would the ones I call family want to hold me back, break my spirit, and kill my dreams? They must be HATERS.” Perhaps…
Perhaps the idea of you reaching freedom and living your dreams is so upsetting to those who have yet found their gifts, that they will do anything to keep you on their level. After all, misery does love company. Maybe they are operating under the premise that in order for you to truly escape and remain free, you have to be tougher than average, with relentless drive and unwavering spirit. Have you considered that, after you began your climb, maybe you never looked back for those who wanted to escape, too? And what about that “mass” you accumulated beneath you to
