I was watching an old episode of The Walking Dead and a strange thought came to me. I wish I was there rather than here. And then I thought, wait, what the hell, TWD is supposed to be a dystopian, a hell and most definitely not a place one wishes to be.
But, yeah, I would rather be there.
Why?
In the scene I was watching when the thought popped into my head, Rick and his gang were walking through a store, taking supplies and food products they needed off the shelves. It was so simple. So easy to get their basic needs. They didn't have to do anything other than take what they needed and watch out for zombies.
And that's what appealed to me; the simplicity of it all; find food, shelter and protect yourself. Period.
There was no boss to impress, no career to manage or asses to kiss to make money so that they could take those things off the shelves. There were no variables that couldn't be controlled in order to access the food. They just went out and took what they needed.
In TWD world there are no bills, no debtors calling, no mortgage to worry about. You want shelter, go find it. Effort = reward. No middle man needed.
In our world, you get a bad boss, pick the wrong career, get sick or heaven forbid take a gap year to figure out what you want to do with your life, you're screwed. Your pick of the products on the shelves are now very limited.
The only obstacles to getting what they wanted in TWD were a bunch of slow moving zombies who want to eat flesh because they have an unquenchable thirst. (Michonne fixed that problem, though, just cut off their arms and jaw and they're harmless.)
I could handle TWD zombies who want to eat me any day over the critics who want to murder me by killing my career just for the hell of it.
In this world, we took the basics of human survival and gave it a little testosterone. We don't have to just brave the basic elements, we have to play by ridiculous societal rules, be at the mercy of people we have never met and if we don't bow and kiss the feet of the establishment, we don't eat.
What an insane world they created and we participate in. Personally, I am done being the peasant in the valley working to feed the king on the hill.
Life shouldn't be a constant struggle, trying to stay above water just to get our basic needs. We are better than that. It should be about thriving, living life to the fullest and being the best version of ourselves.
We humans can do better. We as a species have come so far. We can create a world that works for all rather just 1% of the population.
But how do we do that? Where do we start?