The Walking Dead has brought some serious street cred to the zombie. And it’s about damn time! The Vampire has had his sparkly time in the spotlight. So move over Count Abula and let some moaners and walkers have their fifteen minutes (but let’s give them a bit more than that, as it takes them a bit longer to get around). With the viewing of the latest episode, I want to address something that has come up. As per usual, I will not give away spoilers.
Humanity. What is it? According to Merriam Webster, the definition of humanity is:
The quality or state of being humanea : the quality or state of being human
When (and it is a ‘when’ not an ‘if’) the apocalypse hits it will be our humanity that becomes the great divider between man and monster. That divider is going to be one hell of a challenging line to tow. Why do I say that? Just like in The Walking Dead, we are going to have to make some choices that few will actually be ready to make. Think about it. Are you ready to:
- Take the lives of loved ones.
- Loot.
- Shooting monsters.
- Refuse aid to others.
- Not be able to save a life.
- Starve yourself and your children to stave off the Grim Reaper.
- Watch anarchy take over the ‘rule’ of the land.
- Give into madness.
- Take the lives of the innocent to save your own ass.
- Learn the truth.
- Give up on faith.
- Learn the trust you placed in people isn’t actually there.
As much as I would like to think humanity is one of the single most powerful forces in the ‘verse; the truth of the matter is, humanity is a fragile mistress that is threatened every day in ways many of us cannot imagine. When the apocalypse hits, and monsters roam the planet, that humanity will crumble — if we allow it.
We must not allow for a ‘mob rules’ state of martial law to take over. Once that happens, and once we allow chaos to force us into doing things we know we shouldn’t do, we have lost our humanity. And when we lose that, anarchy will ensue. And we’ve seen, countless times, that man ruled by anarchy does not work. The majority of the human race (and this is an overwhelming majority) needs the order of law. Without that rule we crumble. If we crumble, our souls crumble shortly after.
To me, the single most frightening thing about the zombie apocalypse is not the monsters, the death, the constant running, and the threat of an evil overlord searching for the one true savior (cough, cough, Bethany Nitshimi). What scares me the most is the human race losing it’s grip on its humanity. Once that has happened, it’s over. Lights out. Uh huh…
…but there will be no “dance, dance, dance” Mr. Wolf.
What I want, when the end of the world comes, is to be able to shout back to Michael Stipe, “I feel fine too!”
What about you? Will you be able to hold on to your humanity when the monsters crawl up from the dirt? How do you plan on keeping a stranglehold on the one thing the monsters don’t own? Speak out below.
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