Today I was in the library talking to a couple students…and up walked a HS girl holding a shell. It didn’t take me long to realize that something was in the shell! It was a hermit crab. As she calmly held it in her hand….she looked at me and smiled as she whispered, “Wait, I’ll get him to come out.”
When she said that, i have to admit, I was kind of excited…and I wanted to see the crab out of the shell. I had no clue how long it would really take. I am impatient anyway….and the thought of waiting 5 more minutes to see this thing, I got jittery. I had some things i had to do. So I told her I needed to get going….and that maybe some other time I could see it. Without taking her eyes off the shell she said, “I wish I had a shell.”
I wish I had a shell.
The only thing i could think to say back was, “Yeah, but we build our own shells.”
I wish I had a shell.
6 words I haven’t been able to get out of my head for the past 6 hours. How true is this of every person we see in the hallways? In the parking lot. In the gym. At band practice. At the mall. A bunch of people looking for a shell. For some, that shell looks like popularity. Beauty. Busyness. Athletics. Art. Music. An alter-ego. All shells to climb inside to hide from this bitter and judgmental world.
Hermit crabs do this to protect their weakness. We do it to hide our insecurities. Regardless of the degree with which we hide, we all hide something. It leaves all of us to think about two questions.
What’s your shell?
What do you use it to protect?
