What To Say

Spoiler Alert:  a brief discussion of an issue raised in season 2 of The Walking Dead.  While no particulars have been revealed, if you are being especially diligent about avoiding spoilers, you may wish to skip this entry and come back later.  We've even placed a picture here, rather than at the end, to help you avoid temptation to read further before you click away from the blog.  You're welcome!

Still on board?  You've been warned!

We have been plowing our way through Season 2 of The Walking Dead.  It is an outstanding show -- painful in its realistic portrayal of the emotional evolution of a band of survivors in the midst of the zombie apocalypse.  We sympathize with, and are angry at, each character in turn.  It's exhausting to watch.  Yet we cannot turn away.

In a recently watched episode, a main character meets the end.  The others gather around this character, knowing the wounds are fatal, seeing the character suffer as life slowly ebbs away.  Finally, another brave individual of the group delivers a bullet of mercy, after looking the character in the face and quietly, stoically stating: "Sorry."

It was terribly sad.

There are the thoughts that crossed our minds as we watched:

Why, knowing that the character was irreparably wounded, did the others not offer a few more last words of solace?

Perhaps the shock of what had happened was too much even to contemplate what to say. We'd believe that.  Such is the realism of this show.

We hoped as we watched that someone would utter words to hold - "thank you for all that you have done;" or perhaps provide the information that another individual, about whose fate that character had been concerned, was still among the living.  Or even a few words of love.  How we longed for some last comforting thought as the character slipped the surly bonds of earth.

We have not yet -- mercy be -- ever had to hold a hand growing cold or looked into eyes growing dim.  We cannot even begin to imagine the difficulty.  Death can be messy and unexpected, whether sudden or drawn out.  There is not always time to say what we would like - or what we need - to say.  We hope, though, that when such an occasion arises, we will somehow be able to find the right words to send the soul onward in peace.