http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/a-tale-of-long-twig-and-short-twig
Into the court assembly of King Sri Krishnadevaraya barged in a scholar from Vidarbha challenging the King to prove that the scholars in the court were wiser than him. The King asked the scholar to take rest in the palace room and granted to keep the contest the next day and sent for the scholars of his kingdom to assemble in the court the following day. The next day scholar from Vidarbha entered into the court with a twig about a foot long in his hand and place it on the decorative table. He bow to the King and asked if there is any scholar or a learned person in his kingdom who can make this twig short without touching it.
Every great scholar in the court had a hard look at that the twig and mentally wrestled to shorten the twig but the catch was that they could not touch the twig. When all the scholars and learned men in the court failed, the scholar asked the King to acknowledge that there were no scholars in his kingdom who could equal his talent. Tenali Ramakrishna, the jester in the court got up from his seat and requested the King to grant him permission to give a try. The King knowing that Ramakrishna was very sharp and witty gave him the go ahead. Ramakrishna whispered to the attendant to bring some thing. The assistant brought a similar looking twig which was a little bit longer than the one scholar had kept on the table. Ramakrishna placed the twig next to the twig of the scholar, which made it look shorter.
This tale of two twigs shows us the need to excel on our own efforts rather than cutting short the other. In this competitive world everyone wants to be ahead and to achieve that, it does not matter if one has to pull the one ahead of him. All are not so, some improve their capabilities and try hard to get to the goal, while others use shortcut methods by capitalizing on the others person’s shortcomings. Unfortunately it is the second way that is popular among many in the BPO & Corporate sector. But what is the use of reaching the goal in such a way? A fool tries pull others down in order to get to the top while wise pulls himself up to reach the height. A victory can be better relished if one has shed a bit of sweat for it.
This pulling down others to reach the top is termed as “Crab Mentality” which is due to selfish attitude and short-sighted thinking. A person who has such mentality breeds the attitude of “if I do not get what I want, neither you should.” Generally a person with such superfluous thought display poor reflection of his personality. The crab mentality is an indication of the famous saying “I like to see my friends get ahead, but not too far ahead.” This is lack of tolerance and not being magnanimous to be happy for other.
There is an interesting story on how this term “Crab Mentality” was framed.
Once there was an old woman who sold Crabs in the market place. The bucket in which she had kept the Crabs did not have a lid. A man who stepped in to buy the Crabs found this and asked the old women, “Why don't you cover the basket? The Crabs can climb down the bucket and escape!”
The old women shook her head and said “No, that is impossible every time a Crab tries to get out of the basket there is one behind it to pull it down”.
Every great scholar in the court had a hard look at that the twig and mentally wrestled to shorten the twig but the catch was that they could not touch the twig. When all the scholars and learned men in the court failed, the scholar asked the King to acknowledge that there were no scholars in his kingdom who could equal his talent. Tenali Ramakrishna, the jester in the court got up from his seat and requested the King to grant him permission to give a try. The King knowing that Ramakrishna was very sharp and witty gave him the go ahead. Ramakrishna whispered to the attendant to bring some thing. The assistant brought a similar looking twig which was a little bit longer than the one scholar had kept on the table. Ramakrishna placed the twig next to the twig of the scholar, which made it look shorter.
This tale of two twigs shows us the need to excel on our own efforts rather than cutting short the other. In this competitive world everyone wants to be ahead and to achieve that, it does not matter if one has to pull the one ahead of him. All are not so, some improve their capabilities and try hard to get to the goal, while others use shortcut methods by capitalizing on the others person’s shortcomings. Unfortunately it is the second way that is popular among many in the BPO & Corporate sector. But what is the use of reaching the goal in such a way? A fool tries pull others down in order to get to the top while wise pulls himself up to reach the height. A victory can be better relished if one has shed a bit of sweat for it.
This pulling down others to reach the top is termed as “Crab Mentality” which is due to selfish attitude and short-sighted thinking. A person who has such mentality breeds the attitude of “if I do not get what I want, neither you should.” Generally a person with such superfluous thought display poor reflection of his personality. The crab mentality is an indication of the famous saying “I like to see my friends get ahead, but not too far ahead.” This is lack of tolerance and not being magnanimous to be happy for other.
There is an interesting story on how this term “Crab Mentality” was framed.
Once there was an old woman who sold Crabs in the market place. The bucket in which she had kept the Crabs did not have a lid. A man who stepped in to buy the Crabs found this and asked the old women, “Why don't you cover the basket? The Crabs can climb down the bucket and escape!”
The old women shook her head and said “No, that is impossible every time a Crab tries to get out of the basket there is one behind it to pull it down”.
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