The crab.

It's much easier to stay silent, and sit by yourself in the imagined cubicle you erected - walls impenetrable by people who don't like to be dealt with.

When we were young, and unsure of ourselves, we preferred to remain quiet during recess at school and on class hours, we acted prim and proper and listened to our elementary school teachers with ears and eyes wide opened. We never bullied anyone, even if "slum boys" pestered our girl school mates.

But as we grew older and saw  the real world for what it was, we couldn't help but stand up noisily for that was what was required to be heard and seen.

Especially for small or short people, being heard is a hard task. With big and tall people, being heard is even harder if the meat of the message is a dung.

Politicians in the Philippines, a lot of times, don't need height nor weight to be heard, seen or get elected. They simply need to have the right network of manipulators and vote buyers. Sad but true.

In ordinary people's lives, there are manipulators, instigators, and provocateurs working behind the scenes. They are the destroyers of dreams, visions, projects and lives.

They act vile because they want to get the credit for your work, they have been paid to do the dirty job, envy you and your family, or they are just simply mean and evil ( like rude drivers who drive you crazy, thieves, hold uppers, car jackers, rapists, those with crab mentality,  and pork barrel scammers).

But in simple, community environs where proper decorum and etiquette are still required, there are still scums who ignore "hellos and hi's" and smiles and small talk as if wealth is the only yard stick for returning the greeting and the warmth.

Pets, especially dogs are man's best friend, indeed. They may have the brain of a pea, but they respond warmly to man's simple gestures of care.