The sun skimmed the lazy waves as Nick sat on the coarse sand watching the sun drift lazily towards the horizon. The beach was riddled with signs of human life; crumbling sand castles, lines of footprints, and the occasional coin, all being swallowed up by the shining sea. Along the beach the wind was reshaping the sand that lightly reflected the dying sunlight like millions of little stars. Nick was alone there, leaning back on the sand staring into the horizon and the sky. Maybe he should have stood up and left like his friends did a long time ago, but he was too busy now.

It was only after a few hours had passed that Nick stood up. He looked around, brushed himself off of the tiny sparkling grains, and turned his back to the sunset. It was then that he noticed with a slight touch of distaste the amount of trash lying around on the beach. He looked down at a little light that shone out of a little dune next to where he had sat. Nick stooped own and carefully brushed the sand off the screen of someone’s forgotten phone. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands, looking at the natural dents and scratches that come with putting an object through constant use. As he was putting the phone back to its resting place, he spotted a small hermit crab nestle out of the sand under where he found the phone. Getting down on his knees, Nick examined the crab sadly.
“This must be the life” Nick thought, with a touch of jealousy. “Here is this solitary hermit crab, living in the sand. He does not have any other hermit crabs to interact with, and he spends most of his time alone. He does not live in the world of light and distractions like I do, but instead lives in his dark shell hidden under the sand.”

He shrugged, got hold of himself and started walking back towards his home. Still, he could not shake off the feeling of jealousy for the simple existence he just encountered, and went to bed with it still at the front of his thoughts. He dreamed he was a hermit crab with not a care in his life but to live. Nick got out of his bed the next morning while the rising sun was just beginning to light the world. As he walked downstairs to his kitchen, he saw his Grandmother sitting at the table with a breakfast already made for them. She was wearing a worn apron made out of an old pair of jeans that had been with her in cooking many meals. A chair was pulled to the table, and Nick sat down.

“What is on your mind?” asked Grandma, almost as if she sensed his anguish.

Nick sat still. He looked down at his hands and looked back into his Grandma’s eyes.

“Ah, well… nothing.”

“Really? You look worried.”

He looked down again. He wondered if he should confide his thoughts with anyone.

“Well, there’s something” he chuckled lightly.

“Yes?”

“I saw a hermit crab on the beach last night.”

“Did you? You know a hermit crab is a sign of good luck. You should be happy.”

“Well, I saw something else, Grandma. When I was looking at the hermit crab, I felt a little bit jealous. That hermit crab does not have to worry about anything and can be alone whenever he likes. I dreamed last night of being one myself. I am tired of dealing with people who talk to other constantly yet complain about always being alone. They pollute their relationships by holding back their feelings and complain about how they do not receive anything back.”
His Grandma turned to face Nick head-on. She smiled, and Nick saw that she understood everything he said and did not judge him for it. For the first time, he noticed how natural her face looked. It radiated sincerity and purity and happiness.
“You know, Nick, you should not think that you are the only one who thinks like that.”
Nick was surprised at her quick and correct evaluation of his fears, and respected her all the more for it.
“I had an almost identical experience. When I was a young girl, many years ago, I was walking through the forest with my parents. My parents were complaining about the same things you are now: that kids are being distracted too much by unimportant things and not paying enough attention to the world around them. I actually agreed with them, for I was very mature for my age and I understood things that most people would only understand many years later. As I was walking through that forest, I saw an old log, hollowed about by rot and sitting in the middle of a floor of green ferns. “
“I separated from my parents for a little while and went and took a closer look. And on the lip of a piece of bark on one end of the trunk sat a very content snail.”
“’Ah, what a good life it must have!’ I thought as I looked at its squat repose. ‘It does not care for beauty, for it has a wonderful painted shell in all the beautiful colors of the forest. It is sitting on a dead tree worth enough food to last for years.’’
“But when I thought about it further I found out I was wrong. The snail was condemned to a solitary life of deconstructing what was once living and being. It could not marvel at the beauty of its shell -it was incapable of any higher function beyond machine-like feeding and breeding that nature assigned to him. Yes, the snail had no worries, but it was never confronted with any to begin with. It never experienced the joy of getting to its carefree state.”
“The thing is, it is futile to wish you were something else. The snail I saw is similar to your hermit crab in many ways. But both of those creatures are very different from us. The hermit crab you met was probably satisfied with what little it had, but it could not realize it like you did. Instead, you yourself bear the responsibility of rejecting the virtual distractions that you complain about. Be happy with what you are now and embrace all the benefits and setbacks of you being here.”
Jack turned the last page with a hidden sense of relief, and in conclusion touched the power icon on his eReader and placed the still bright device on his bedside table.
“I read the most interesting story last night, Mrs. Jones,” Jack said to his English teacher after school.
“What was it about?” asked an intrigued Mrs. Jones. Jack rarely read books on his own.
“It was about a Boy named Nick and a Hermit Crab. The Boy was on a beach and saw a hermit crab and wanted to be one. The hermit crab to him seemed to have what the boy was looking for: a carefree life. He said so to his Grandmother and she told him not to. She said that it was the Boy’s own choice to make to reject distractions and be happy.”
“And what did you learn from it?”
“Well, I learned that Nick is sort of like me. He and I both need to reject things that get in our way and we can be truly happy when we learn to tell apart and ignore what’s really not important to us.
Mrs. Jones looked on while Jack wheeled around and dove back into his eReader. She smiled faintly.