Lobsters

I love to eat lobster. I like to have a bucket of butter, some lemon wedges, some corn and potatoes, and of course, a shower curtain to wrap myself in to catch all of the flying juice and shell.

I recently learned that the humble lobster isn’t the smartest thing in the sea or the land. This knowledge has not affected my desire to eat lobster at all. It makes the lobster more fascinating. You see, it has always amazed me how the animal world reflects the human world. I recently read that if a lobster is left high and dry among rocks, it does not have enough instinct and energy to work its way back to the sea, even though it may be only a few feet away. It waits for the sea to come to it and eventually will die in its tracks.

In comparison, I’ve observed many “Human lobsters” who are always stuck on the rocks. They spend their days waiting for good fortune to come to them. They hope and pray for success and yet wouldn’t take any risks or pursue any dreams if their life depended on it. Their vocabulary is limited to “I hope,” “I’d like,” “I’ll think about it,” “If only,” “My luck will change,” and “Someday I’ll win the lottery.” Instead of getting off their backsides and doing something about their situation, they would turn away from any opportunities or challenges they face and ignore them or at least push them off.

The winners in the world that we live in today are the ones who identify opportunity and then pursue it. They understand that their success, or lack thereof, is totally and entirely up to them. Their choices are to face life’s storms by being satisfied, complacent, and stupid, with lives filled with excuses and blame. They can also choose to face the storm with an eye for possibility and potential and ignore the talk of the human lobsters around them.

I had to laugh the other day when I came across a quote from Philosopher Marcus Aurelius of ancient Rome. He must have known some Roman Lobsters when he said, “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

It’s just too easy to be a human lobster today. Life is a lobster trap overflowing with paranoia, fear, anxiety, and risk, but we can control it all. Fear and risk are an essential part of life if kept in perspective. It’s all in how you deal with it.

The choice is simple for me. While others are worrying and sitting on the rocks, I will be the one looking for my opportunity to dive in. My decision is simple. I would much rather eat the lobster than be the lobster. What about you?