Happy Chinese New Year! To celebrate the occasion, I am sharing a little story I wrote …
Once upon a Time there was a cheerful little crab that lived by the sea with her family and relatives and neighbors. They were inseparable. You could find them all of skittering along the shore line, wrestling with their strong claws, avoiding sea gulls and harvesting bits of food to eat.
Now, crabs are called “crabs” for a reason. They are touchy creatures. Soft and tender on the inside with a hard shell exterior, the crab community tended to be pretty rough crowd, especially with each other. They prided themselves on being masters of evasion, able to skitter left right and burrow into the sand disappearing, for protection. If you spent part of your life as a vulnerable “blob” growing a shell back, you’d be pretty cautious too. After all it is a “crab eat crab world out there,” all the crabs would shake their heads and say.
What crabs dreaded most is being caught and taken out of their home, the ocean. Sage old crabs would tell the tales of whole families suddenly and mysteriously whisked away by the strange magical devices. The biggest warning was “if the food is too good to be true, it probably is.”
One day the cheerful little crab was playing with her best friends. When they found themselves all being lifted out of the ocean. They were unceremoniously dumped in a bucket with the other sea crabs.
“Hey watch it,” some of the crabs croaked and wheezed as the little crabs rolled into the pile. When the little sea crabs got their footing they looked around to find aunts, uncles, cousin and moms and dads. “Oh this is what the Sage Crabs warned us about. This is it. This is the end. That is just the way life is,” they all moaned. It was like a chorus of defeat sung by the community of crabs.
But the two little crabs did not feel that way. They felt curious. So they began to climb up the pile of sea crabs to see what they could see.
“Hey, watch it, “the cranky crabs yelled as the little crabs nimbly climbed up to the top. The chorus of defeat was beginning to sound like a distant memory replaced by another sound … the sound of the sea calling.
Soon the two tiny crabs were peering over the side and just catching a glimpse of home, of the ocean.
“Hey what do you think you are doing,” a crab bubbled as he took his mighty claw and pulled them each down. “Where do you think you are going? This is it. This is the end. This is just the way it is. And we will all go down together.”
But the little crabs spoke up, “Oh but did you know the ocean is only a few feet away? We are so close.” Then the little crabs got excited and said to the bigger crabs: “We could all just climb out of here, one by one, and pull each other over and make it home in time for the sunset!”
But the cranky crabs would have none of it. “Hey listen to these two, saying we can get out of here and go home,” the bigger crabs jeered. The chorus of defeat began to hum to a chorus of mocking and jeering.
“That is ridiculous!”
“No one ever gets out of here alive.”
“That’s what all the Sages say.”
“That is just the way it is. That is just the way it is.” They began to repeat this until it became a hypnotic trance.
But the little crabs would not forget what they experienced. They felt freedom in their bodies. So, without another word, they climbed up again, and saw their escape.
On their way, they grabbed their Mother and Dad and dragged them up, showing the ocean. But their parents just sighed and sunk back: “this is the end. It’s just the way it is.”
Their parents slumped and they rejoined the chorus of defeat and hopelessness. For a brief moment the little crabs slumped too. They loved their Mom and Dad and family so.
But the two little crabs saw the sun setting. With aching hearts, they realized what they had to do. It was either die with their family or climb into their future.
“We’ll do it for our children, for future generations. This is not the way to has to be. We can make new choices and live our lives.”
So with hope spurring them on, the two little crabs climbed again, only this time they did not stop, they did not look back. When they came to the edge, they paused long enough to see something amazing and awesome! All around them were buckets with crabs also peering out from the top of the Sea Crab Pile. Big crabs, little crabs, old crabs, young crabs! Some even had begun to climb over the edge and skitter on the sand near the welcoming ocean.
So the two little sea crabs took the leap. It was hard landing. A funny thing happened: there was a soft hum emerging from all the crabs, and they were drawn together in a circle. All the other crab escapees were gathering together. There were tears in their eyes as they left behind the one’s they loved, life they knew. But there was also hope in their hearts, the desire to live in their bodies. Instinctively, they began to join in a circle, each mighty claw holding unto this next mighty claw.
And they began to declare. “No more pity parties… our might to live, makes all things right.”
They stood in the safety of the Circle of Support for a long time. Then as the sun began to set, they smiled at one another and let go and skittered in the welcoming ocean, to have children and build new lives.
Until next time,
Live the Empowered Essential You!
SusanJoy
