Fear The Walking Dead, SROTW: Believe In People, Believe In Yourself

Fear the Walking Dead -The Raft

People are capable of so much good if you give them a chance. 

Wes has been rather quietly going through a bit of an odyssey as of late in Fear TWD. Over the last three episodes, he’s gone from the idealistic young man we’d met a couple of seasons ago to a disillusioned young man. He has opted to go from being part of Morgan’s group, defecting to the increasingly brutal and pragmatic Strand, to his right-hand man, willing to fight his former friends to carry out his boss’ orders.

Well, maybe not the last part.

On a couple of occasions, Wes had the chance to attack Dwight and Sherry but didn’t. In their first encounter, rather than attack the pair, he chose to air his grievances with Morgan’s group and them specifically, commenting on his skepticism about their code. However, as Dwight pointed out after Sherry spooked Wes’ horse into bucking him off, if Wes had indeed become as cynical about people as he claimed, he wouldn’t have wasted time talking to them and instead just shot them where they stood.

Clearly, as much as Wes claims he doesn’t have faith in people anymore, he’s trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

I can speak from experience that it’s easy to want to give up on people. You don’t have to look hard to find people doing things to convince you of how right that position is. If you step back, you realize that that image of people is more like the reflection in a funhouse mirror: Warped and distorted and not actually showing what’s really there.

People have an amazing capacity for good if you give them a chance. In times of disaster or tragedy, or when presented with power, people will show you who they really are, even if that power is simply an opportunity to attack or betray. The people who choose to help, or opt not to abuse whatever power they may be given, are ultimately, in my opinion, likely to be good people. If you give people the chance to show you who they are, rather than just assuming them hostile, you’re likely to come out better in the end.

As tough as it might be, if you are willing to believe in people in a zombie apocalypse, you might be surprised to discover that people will show you they’re worth believing in.