One of the highest rated zombie TV shows on IMDB is The Walking Dead. A lot of my friends rave on and on about it.
I haven’t watched it yet. Perhaps I do not need to. Because I see so many zombies around me every day. Sometimes I’m a zombie too.
There is no dearth of people with dark circles, worry lines on their foreheads and frowns hidden by make-up. They exhibit a solemn sense of hurry and anxiety – with nowhere to go in particular or nothing to do.
Life beckons to them to achieve more and more and more, or so they tell themselves, shifting some of the blame onto their employers. “You don’t understand. It’s like this only. The rules cannot be changed.”, said one person after giving 10 years of his life to one company.
These affluent zombies amass money, name, fame, status and what not. But almost entirely on other people’s terms, justifying their actions based on social comparisons, and rarely finding the time to truly feel alive. “How I wish I could simplify my life”, is a common regret, as if it were a fading dream.
Here’s the truth though. We do not need 2 cars. We do not need 3 houses. We do not need to show off our wealth. We do not need to show off our abilities and fan following. The more we have and show publicly, the more we are pushed to preserve. Given we will all be gone in the next 100 years, does mindless preservation even make sense?
Simplification is simple. But only we can choose to simplify. Let the zombies remain on TV.