I hear that crabs thrown into a bucket are unable to escape because they keep pulling each other back down in their attempts to free themselves. If they were just able to communicate and cooperate, they could easily escape — or at the very least some of them could.

I see people do the same thing. The primary difference is that people have the capacity to think. Reason should eliminate this type of behavior. Why doesn’t it? Why do people tear each other down?

In my experience, some people build their entire reality on misery. And these miserable people seem to want every one to be miserable. It’s as if knowing that joy exists somehow hurts them. They lash out, attempting to hurt those happy people but usually doing much more collateral damage — to themselves and those closest to them.

What I think these people are missing is that misery is a choice that you make every day, just as joy and love are. You can choose to be happy. In fact, in most cases, all you have to do is make that choice — and then keep making it.

What’s more, once you accept love and joy as your way of life, you are uplifted by other happy people. While the miserable person is angered by joy and love, the happy person becomes more joyful and more full of love when witnessing those traits in others. Personally I have become so full of joy that I am often on the verge of tears from the smallest acts of kindness or love — and it’s wonderful.

I refuse to let the miserable ones change that outlook, and I hope that everyone who reads this makes the same commitment. Let’s show them what true joy looks like, maybe they’ll come around.