Sharing the World with the Undead

Happy 4th of July!

Aahppee vohrvv duuhlaii!

Happy 4th of July!

Aahppee vohrvv duuhlaii!

Just a thought: What was that red on Rudolph’s nose? Was Rudolph one of the first zombie reindeer? Are there others? Has Sandy Claws actually tamed zombie wildlife? We need to mount an expedition to find the man. He knows the answers to questions that may affect the entire population of Finland.

The late Bertrand Russell is one of my best friends.

Duhhlll tahbb brrdehrrnnd ruzzullzz uhhnvv muhhbbzz duhvv rehnds.

Your life follows your attention. Wherever you look, you end up going.
—Martha Beck

What does this have to do with zombies? Maybe nothing, maybe everything. Attention is tricky. We are all paying attention all the time, always when we are awake and at least sometimes while we are asleep. The question is, “What do we do with this attention?”

There’s a phrase in English: natural-born victim. What makes a natural-born victim? “She never fights back,” we say. It has become politically incorrect to suggest that anyone might ever “invite” abuse. Yet I believe that many victims set out to victimize themselves — not necessarily intending that end result. They invite the zombies into their houses.

When they should have been boarding up the windows, they were watching Bridezillas. When they should have been securing doors and fences, they were playing World of Warcraft. When they should have been laying in ammo, they were going to pick up pepperoni pizza instead.

There’s room for nutty women in lace, new leather duds in cyberworlds, and take-out food, but  sometimes all of our attention goes to these diversions, and we follow our attention. In a peacetime world, the cost to focusing on Moo Shu Pork may be trivial. But what’s a peacetime world? When does the peace end? The zombies will not declare war. The zombies will simply come.

The zombies always have the potential to be at the gate. If we want to be ready, we have to put attention on the zombies and the gate. We need to focus on the zombies, both the flesh and bone zombies and the metaphorical zombies that are shuffling toward or have shuffled past our defenses.

The problem with Game of Thrones is that all the lessons are so bleak. O.K., this is a zombie blog. Zombies are a little bleak. But Game of Thrones can stand up there with any major urban outbreak of the undead. It’s exactly that cheery — though eminently watchable and I recommend the series.

I guess one last lesson:
Just because you’ve never seen a dragon or a white walker doesn’t mean they are not out there. Who knows what sleeps in the distant, deep snows at night?

Stay inside the wall.  Make sure the wall is secure.
Zombie version of the lesson:

Stay indoors. Board up the windows.

Of course, all lessons have exceptions. Most of the dangers in life lurk outside one’s walls. If that situation changes, well, so do the rules. Rules should never been more than guidelines for a person who lives in exciting times.

Don’t take your family to court. Don’t take your girlfriend either.

Zombie Lesson:  If you have to go out, leave your family or girlfriend someplace safe (when possible.)

If you must bring your girlfriend along to provide screaming right before the commercial break, at least arm the poor wench.

Never go to court.

Lesson as applied to zombies:

Never go to the mall. This lesson comes from films. It’s probably a perfectly fine lesson once the dead are out en masse. But a more profound lesson may be adapted from the court example above.

Let me observe that people usually go to court before the hell really breaks loose. They don’t always see that some situations are natural set-ups or, if they do, they don’t appreciate the full peril of the situation. Depending on your in-laws, you may need a back door for that Thanksgiving dinner.

Anticipating situations is the key. Don’t be taken by surprise simply because you were too busy putting the brown sugar, butter and marshmallows on the yams.