The Walking Dead: Top 7 fatherly lessons learned from Rick Grimes

5) “Don’t look back, Carl. Just keep walking.” (Season 4, Episode 8, “Too Far Gone”)

The season four midseason finale was a rough one for Rick and his group: Half of the people they’d saved from Woodbury had died of the flu (Or from being bitten by those who did), The Governor and his army destroyed the prison and scattered the rest of the group, and worst of all, The Governor, rather than accept Rick’s offer of peace, killed Rick’s father figure, Hershel, instead.

On top of all of that, though, was a shock to the system for Rick and Carl that was far worse: Finding Judith’s car seat empty, with blood stains in the seat, leading them to believe that poor baby Judith had been devoured by the dead, and leaving them both crushed.

With Rick severely beaten by The Governor, he had to lean on his son for support as they fled the ruins of their home, as they did so, he gave his son a warning:

“Don’t look back, Carl. Just keep walking.”

Rick knew that both he and Carl were in shock — They’d lost friends, they’d lost their home, and, they’d believed they’d lost their family — and that dwelling on all that they had lost would not help them. Rick knew they had to keep moving forward, that that was their only hope, so, that’s what Rick told his son to do: Don’t look back, just keep walking.

It’s another rough lesson that Carl had to learn, but, it was also another important one. Rick taught his son that, sometimes, when it seems like you’ve lost everything, the only thing you can do to keep yourself from breaking is leave the past in the past, and keep marching forward.