For me some of the scariest bad things out there are zombies. Not that I have a problem with zombie movies or TV. Waking Dead, it’s all good. World War Z, I love the book. The movie was horrible but that wasn’t the fault of the zombies. Bad writing is bad writing and you can’t really come back from that no matter how much Brad Pitt you throw at it. For years I had a stuffed zombie doll with removable head and limbs which sat on my desk so people visiting could have something to do while they waited. Still have it somewhere, come to think of it…where did that get to…it should be out right now…’tis the season…
Where was I? Oh, yeah. Zombies are scary because they have no brains of their own. They can’t be reasoned with, they have no hidden agenda, they aren’t trying to trick us into anything and there’s no clever way to escape them. I mean, the rules for engagement are pretty well laid out in Zombieland (another favorite of mine). The only real way to be safe is to never come in contact with them. Everything else is a matter of dodge and destroy, because once they have you, you’re done for. One nip, one small bite, even a fleck of infected whatever bodily fluid that is and you’re done.
These situations aren’t far-fetched and aren’t something that happens in some far flung region. Just ask anyone with a potentially deadly peanut or bee sting allergy. I’m deathly allergic to poison oak. After three incidents with it, the last of which landed me in the hospital and which narrowly missed damaging the nerves in my legs permanently, I asked the doctors what I could do to remedy the situation or make things safer for myself and the response was “don’t come in contact with it. Things will only get worse from here.” Got it. Don’t get bitten by the zombie and avoid zombie ridden areas. On it.
Anyone who has had an illness or a disease which takes control of their body and threatens their life has had an upfront confrontation with a zombie. The fear is the virus will win. I mean, you can’t be half zombified any more than you can be partially pregnant. You either are or you aren’t. Luckily with science, with resources, and with preventative measures and full court press medical care, things that could be zombie situations turn out to be all right. Ebola is the current zombie scare and what we’re finding is that we can stop it in its tracks. With the right care people survive. So while zombies are terrifying, before we go screaming off in a direction and run straight into an entire pack of them, let’s make sure that’s really what we’re dealing with, take the right preventative measures, and arm ourselves appropriately. We can not only survive this, but we can thrive. Oh and there’s this too: The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead
