POSITIVE CRAB MENTALITY

CRAB MENTALITY

Granting that crabs have mentality, it has a negative connotation deeply imbedded in the Filipino psyche. It is erroneously considered to be a kind of trampling at each other in a race towards a common goal. It is believed wrongly to be a kind of backbiting or jostling to prevent the progress of those getting ahead.

But come to think of it in a positive light and analyze the crab behavior more carefully. You will notice that the escaping crab from a basket is not actually being pulled down to the bottom but in reality is being pushed up on top of the pyramid formed by the other crabs.

The maneuver actually is a kind of reward or recognition of the achiever; a salute to the stronger and daring member; actually a kind of appreciation for the more adventurous and heroic crab in the clan. It is in fact a strategy for unity to keep the family together.

Scientifically the technology of pen culture also known as “aquasilviculture” is an intelligent positive application of crab mentality of socializing together whereby ‘crablets’ are enclosed in bamboo pens festooned with nets to keep them in one place. Plastic is wound on the upper portion of the net to discourage them from escaping the pen so that they can build many pyramids of fulfillment to keep them together in idle mangrove areas that can eventually be turned into economically protective sites without disturbing the natural ecological state.

If Filipinos could only apply this positive crab mentality there shall be less fighting, less hunger as we shall be congratulating the winners and praising the victorious. We shall be preventing them from going away from us to serve as our mentors, helpers and inspirations.

We certainly can possibly learn many lessons from the crabs. Let us help our leaders to stay up and cooperate with the good things they are doing instead of degrading their achievements. Let us build many pyramids for the many heroes and heroines of our society. Let us stick to one another as a family and as a nation.

There is definitely nothing wrong with the crabs or their mentality but there seems to be something unclear about the Filipino culture and the application of the Filipino mentality.