When zombies attack

Over the years, I have become desensitized to most creature features. The best zombie movie I have watched lately was Sean of the Dead. This flick's humorous side is so powerful that makes zombies look like fun.  Nevertheless, when I was a kid I used to find zombies terrifying. They combined my natural fear of the dark with the fear of the supernatural and that of being eaten alive by some ugly creature with halitosis. 

 

I was about fourteen years old when I first watched my first zombie movie.  "The Night of the Living Dead".  The George Romero black and white film that had been released years before, but still played occasionally as an inexpensive summer feature show. I went to see it with a couple of friends, mostly on a dare.  There were rumors back then that someone had been so terrified that he had died of a heart attack at the theater.

 

 

To be honest, this was the most scary movie I had ever watched.  Only the Exorcist topped it for me a couple of years later.  I was playing it cool since I was with my friends.  When I went back home that night I was afraid of falling asleep since I KNEW I would have the most horrible nightmare. Unfortunately I was also afraid of staying awake, since every sound in the house felt like the tentative steps of an undead creature walking towards my room.  Not a particularly restful night I would say.

 

I dreamt about the movie all night. Mainly about the part when the main character had to face a loved one that had turned.  You get to have mixed feelings about a monster.  You need to be ruthless towards someone you love or it will kill you. This was deeply disturbing to me.

 

Zombies are creatures that belong to two worlds, that of the living and of the dead.  They are not particularly well adjusted citizens of either one.  They no longer feel any kind of emotion for their former loved ones and they focus on only one thing, to satisfy their basic hunger. Should  I say a void in their soul?

 

Working in corporate America, I have started to recognize zombies pretty easily.  There is the "not truly there" look, check in the box, follow the motions, burning rubber speeding away from the workplace on Friday evenings. No deep bonds with other coworkers, resentful and passive aggressive creatures of darkness.

 

In the George Romero movie, either some toxic chemical or an infection causes the problem. In real life, I think there are two royal paths to becoming a zombie, maybe more. 

 

One is lack of generosity towards others.  Folks that will not do any more than it is required, that will not ever truly engage, not just at work, but in any aspect of their lives.  Without a generous approach to life, over time, their world will start getting smaller and duller.  The other path maybe fear.  Not so much fear of the outside world, but fear of our own shortcomings.  This way of thinking will drain the life of the living faster than I can say "undead".

 

This is what I tell my zombie  friends.  Just pick a horse and ride it.  There is nothing wrong about dying.  It will happen naturally, whether you want it or not.  Billions of people have done this before me, so I guess is a pretty well tested concept.  There's nothing wrong with living either.  I can't say enough good things about this thing called life.  I have personally chosen to be a good citizen of life, a vibrant one.  I refuse to ever, ever, become part of the undead.