Crabs in a bucket

I have a question. It's one I don't think anyone really has the answer to, but one that I will ask nonetheless...why are we as a people such crabs in the bucket? I mean, I'd really like to know the answer to that because I just don't get it.I guess I should back up. I'll admit it, I'm a little niave, maybe even a little too nice. And as my friends always tell me, just a little too open about my business. I think it's because I like to beleive that people are generally good, but the further I climb up this literary ladder, I'm just not sure if that's the case anymore. And that's a sad testament.You'd think with success would come people - especially our people - who are happy for you, happy to see a sistah living her dreams. But again, if anything, I'm finding more and more, dare I say it - haters. That's such a strong word because it makes it seem like I have something someone should be jealous of, but I don't. I'm just a sistah who went after, and is achieving her dream. To me, that should warrant respect, not hate. But on the contrary, take an email (addressed to someone else) that I received last week (who I have to even question the sender's motive in forwarding it to me). I've never done anything to the person who wrote the email, but she proceeded to talk about how I think I'm all that because my books are doing well. (Are we back in the 8th grade??) That's asinine. I'm the same down-home girl from Smackover, Arkansas that I was when I was pushing my self published books on the corner. I didn't change. People changed toward me.Or take the fellow author who asked why I was always helping "wanna-be" authors, or promoting other authors "for free." That too, is crazy. I've been so blessed because I live my life trying to be a blessing to others. My friends tell me, forget those people who spew their negativity. I wish I didn't care. I wish it didn't bother me. But it's my nature to care and wish that we as a people could get away from that crab mentality and figure out that when one of us succeeds, we all do. Maybe it's a pipe dream. But hey I'm a writer, I'm supposed to dream.