Eagles and Crabs (Bot9 #316)
Sometime in the fall of 2002, I was working in a new public school and our students had started to get out of sorts. They were starting to make “those” decisions and, as a new school, we were small enough at the time to try to intervene and set a better culture. We brought the students together for an assembly and our new principal had a message for them. It was one of those messages I’ve seen and heard less and less through the years. The desire for moral teachings from teachers and authority figures seems to have lessened.
Our principal stepped forward to call our students to a higher standard. He related our mascot as eagles as the central metaphor for the talk. Since then, I’ve heard this talk take many forms. “You can’t soar with eagles if you hang out with chickens…hang out with turkeys…hoot with the owls” or “You can’t send a duck to eagle school.” But on this day, he spoke about the contrast of being an eagle instead of a crab. To provide the essence of the message, I found this post by Bedros Keuilian:
As I stood there watching how this crab fisherman went about his trade I noticed that one of his crabs from the bucket was climbing on top of the rest. It was making a break for freedom, and I silently cheered it on. I could tell it was the most ambitious crab of the bunch.
Somewhat awkwardly, it would step from crab to crab, getting higher and higher, and eventually was able to extend its front legs right up to the lip of the bucket. He was just inches away from escaping the paint bucket prison.
Recognizing that the fisherman likely depended on this crab for his meal ticket, I alerted him that the Steve McQueen of the crab world was about to make his Great Escape.
He nodded knowingly, and said, with a little condescension for a naïve landlubber like myself, “You just watch what happens.”
As this ambitious crab started pulling himself up to get over the edge of the bucket, all of the other crabs reached up, grabbed his hind legs and pulled him down to the bottom of the bucket.
This world often resembles that of a bucket of crabs. For those high school kids at that time, anyone trying to escape the bucket and do well for themselves were grabbed back in and pulled back to the bottom. Often times, we see the same things in the coaching culture as well. Instead of edifying one another, people just try to drag down those who have achieved success. Or, even more detrimental, a crab’s only definition of success is getting to the top of the bucket by winning a game…only to be pulled back under by other crabs on the days they lose.
We’re not crabs, but we can act like them. When we do, we’re struggling with the “dark triad of personality.” The dark triad was first discovered by Delroy Paulhus and Kevin Williams in 2002. According to Scott Barry Kaufman of Scientfic American, “the dark triad of personality consists of narcissism (entitled self-importance), Machiavellianism (strategic exploitation and deceit) and psychopathy (callousness and cynicism).” It appears that each of these traits are on a continuum and we all possess at least a little bit of all three. When we act out of these selfish desires, we’re acting like a crab.
If there is a dark triad, of course there is a light triad as well. The same article cites three distinct factors of the light triad: “Kantianism (treating people as ends unto themselves, not mere means), Humanism (valuing the dignity and worth of each individual) and Faith in Humanity (believing in the fundamental goodness of humans).” One might consider these to be the traits of eagles.
Obviously, this is science’s best effort to explain a contrast appearing inside of every human being. Nature provides us with a similar contrast with eagles and crabs. Ultimately, this wisdom has existed for thousands of years, including Paul’s letter to the Galatians when he says, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17) Paul’s encouraging the church to be eagles and avoid their tendencies to be a crab.
Our encouragement to one another has to be to fly with the eagles who are trying to live life in the light triad and by the good truth of the world. If your life goals only amount to only winning single games, your life might look a lot like a bunch of crabs inside a bucket. Sometimes you’re on top almost crawling out, sometimes you’re on the bottom of the bucket. When you’re an eagle, you can see a much bigger perspective and bring goodness out of everyone you encounter. May we fly with other eagles and encourage people with the perspective of a crab to see the beauty of the sky!