Walk Like The Hermit Crab

Like sand crabs,
Frantically scrambling across the beach,
Moving from hole to hole,
Escaping the rolling surf,
The soaring birds,
Any threat really.

So, we too move from secure situation to secure situation.
A home, a relationship, a job.
Each of these are our holes.

Our house may fall apart,
roaches, lack of plumbing or electricity,
violent neighbors or family.
But anything is better than no home, right?

Our relationships can maintain their bonds,
their hold over us,
as they go from bad to worse to unimaginable.
Being tracked, controlled, isolated, terrified,
and yet this is better than being alone, right?
If only someone would tell us when it is over,
but only we can tell ourselves that, right?

A job gives us purpose, status and resources to live freely.
We get what we need from a job
and it is a vehicle for our participation and contributions to social systems.
A job is a negotiation of what others need
and what we want to give,
and how much we give
and how much we get.
When the deal becomes unbalanced,
a job becomes a hole in which a rising sea imperceptibly drowns us.

Why do we need to frantically strafe the sand?
Why not walk like the hermit crab?
Carrying our security on our back,
we can carefully inspect that next home, relationship, job.
We can accept or discard it as we choose.

Oh for the courage and confidence of that hermit crab,
rolling in the ocean surf,
knowing we will be okay wherever we go.

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