The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Some things DON’T die

As we learned in season 9 episode 3 of The Walking Dead, try as we might, just like zombies, our grudges, our hatreds, and our pasts just won’t die.

Whether you’re trying to rebuild society in a zombie apocalypse, or just trying to put together a community, you’ll come to realize that some things from before just won’t die. No, I’m not talking about the larger societal problems of old, but something far simpler: The old grudges that have either been going since long before the apocalypse, or new ones spurred on by what happened in the apocalypse.

If you want a non-zombie-related thing that can rip your group/community/society apart at the seams, grudges are the odds-on favorite. They may be slow-burning, but, given enough time and enough fuel, when they go off, a bad grudge can have the destructive force of a volcano, and burn everything down just as well.

Of course, grudges in a zombie apocalypse don’t form in a vacuum; Something creates them, and nothing creates grudges better than good, ol’ fashioned human cruelty.

I’m sad to say that there are people in this world right now, who have and will do despicable, repugnant things to other people, not because they were “provoked” in some way, but, simply because they have the ability to do so. As one might imagine, if they’re willing to do so right now, they will not change in a zombie apocalypse.

Now, I could sit here and go into detail about the moral reasons you shouldn’t behave in such a way, but, a person who’d consider doing such things wouldn’t listen, anyway, so, I’ll take a more pragmatic approach: You shouldn’t be cruel to other people in a zombie apocalypse, because…there is nothing stopping people from exacting the same sort of treatment upon you.

If you are cruel to people, it will come back upon you. It might not be from the person you were cruel to, or their group, or people who knew them, but perhaps, from people within your own group, who might simply fear that you may do the same to them in the future, and rather not risk that possibility.

There is, however, the chance that someone who may have behaved this way, or was part of a group with members who behaved this way, may realize the error of their ways, and try to turn over a new leaf. This is laudable, certainly, but, beware: Just because you say you’ve changed…doesn’t mean people will believe you, and, honestly, would you be surprised?

I’m not saying it’s not worth the effort, or that it’s impossible: Neither of those statements is true. What I am saying is that trust is difficult to come by in a zombie apocalypse, doubly so if you were hostile, and, once you lose it, it becomes even more difficult to regain.

Again, from the pragmatic point of view: If you were teamed up with a former enemy, would you trust them to watch your back against the dead? Would you trust them to save you if you needed them to? Somehow, I doubt it.

It isn’t simply distrust that you’d have to deal with for leading a cruel life at some point in the apocalypse, but those itching to exact some kind of revenge on you for past misdeeds.

Even if you change, your past won’t, and it may come back to haunt you (Depending on how bad it was), not because you revisit it, but because the victims/friends and family of the victims of your past cruelty simply refuse to forget it.

At that point, you’ve entered the wonderful world of grudges.

Now, there are some grudges that can, over time, and with the instigator showing enough change, die, however, some simply won’t. Whether one does or doesn’t really depends on the one holding it, and, the reason why they’re holding it in the first place, but, rest assured: The crueler the inciting incident, the less likely the grudge will go away.  A person might be willing to forgive someone for killing a loved one in battle, but, in a manner that was unnecessary, excessive, or cruel? Probably not. Grudges like that? Those are “Till death do you part”.

Now, before you go off thinking I’m endorsing grudges wholesale, hold your horses: Just because you might be justified in having a grudge, doesn’t mean you’re justified in carrying it out, or that it’s a good idea.

Let’s say you get revenge on a former hostile for killing someone in your family, and, let’s say that hostile has friends or family, who had nothing to do with the original killing. Do you think they’re just going to let what you did go?

If so, then, boy, do you have another thing coming!

If you just go around killing people because of things they did to you or your group as if you’re judge, jury, and executioner, you could just be setting off a vendetta, where their friends and family now feel justified in getting revenge on you or your group, and, with each subsequent blow struck, your vendetta inches ever closer into full-blown war; At that point, your grudge hasn’t destroyed your enemy…it’s destroyed you.

This is why, if you’ve reached a point in the zombie apocalypse where you and your enemies have reached a peace, you have got to bury your grudges.

Once your formal conflict with your enemies is over, that has to be the end of it, otherwise, you’re dooming yourself, your friends, your family, your community, your society, everything to a blood feud, that will swallow all that you hold dear.

You have to end your grudges, before they end you.

This is why you follow…The Rules.

And that’s our survival rule of the week!! Hopefully, it’ll help you give you that mental edge that will prove so crucial once the dead start eating everyone.

If you like this and want to find out more rules to survive the zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!