After watching most of the first episode of the Walking Dead on the first day of class, I decided that watching the episodes made sense, as I would be spending the semester learning all about zombies anyway. It was time to see what everyone was talking about. Now I am on season 2 and for the past few episodes I began to think about one, maybe random thing.
I want to give you a scenario much like the situation that Rick and his wife and child are in in the show (okay, well exactly like the situation they are in). A zombie apocalypse has happened and you are severely outnumbered by zombies. Every decision you make must be thoroughly considered because lives are on the line. Think about if you were to make it to this point. You are in a stable enough place and you have one or more small children that you are trying to raise. Obviously raising a child is hard enough to do without trying to do it in the middle of an apocalypse. But how would you go about this? Do you raise your child to be a fighter and force them to grow up much faster than they otherwise would have? Or do you try to hold onto your values and ideals and raise your child in more or less the way you would have if the worst hadn't happened?
Two scenes in particular stick out to me from The Walking Dead. The first is when they have found shelter with a doctor in a large, very safe building. They are splurging on food and wine they haven't had access too. Carl is a young boy, maybe ten years old. Rick and Lori, his parents decide it is okay to let me drink wine with them. I don't remember the lines exactly but at first Lori tries to resist while Rick argues that with the point that those rules don't really apply any more. Carl doesn't like the wine, but what if he had? I agree with both sides. It doesn't seem like the rules should apply anymore, but does that mean abandoning your values?
The second scene I think of is when Carl decides he want to learn to shoot a gun. Lori again is hesitant to let me carry around a gun and learn to shoot. Ultimately, again they let me learn. I guess this example makes more sense, as it is for his own safety and potentially the safety of others as well. But is it necessary for him to learn this skill right now? Apparently his parents think so.
Bringing it back to the book we just finished, This Is Not A Test, the same questions can be asked I believe. In this case though, it is teenagers choosing their own fate. The part that jumps out to me in the book was when we find out that Carry knew someone had to die in order for the rest of them to survive. This is probably not a decision he would have had to make if they weren't in that situation, but did his character change? Would he have made it before? Would you try to make it through a zombie apocalypse and stay true to yourself? Or would you make decisions like Carry did to try to survive?
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I don't think it's really possible to make it through a zombie apocalypse unchanged, or without making some compromises. As you said, every decision becomes about life and death, and sometimes you're forced (by extremes) to make extreme choices that you would never otherwise make. I agree with Rick--it's a different world, and so the old rules don't (or really can't) apply.
I agree both with Rick and Lori. There are things like letting Carl learn to shoot a gun, which could come in handy, but then there are things like letting him drink the wine, which have no use. The decisions that the parents have to make during the zombie apocalypse are tough, but there are clear motives. Yes, it is a different world, but that doesn't mean that all of your values should change. For example, people should still respect each other and try to look out for one another. The system that the group has in "The Walking Dead" reminds me of one of a tribe. All of the adults look out for each other and all of the children. There are groups where everyone loves each others children as if they were their own. To survive in a zombie apocalypse, I believe it is important to have this mindset. The view of the group as a whole and one family.
Survival of the fittest. If you had to raise a child in a zombie apocalypse, you certainly wouldn't be yelling at him or her to brush their teeth and do their homework. Everything would be different and focusing on the neccesary would be essential. Obviously you would want your child to be a "good" person with morals but you'd also have to teach them to be a survivor/killer.
I think you would have to raise the child as a survivalist and fighter. But you would have to make sure you still teach them what is right and what is wrong, show them that the world is not complete chaos. If something did happen and the world carried on like we saw in the short movie Spoiler, you wouldn't want you child to be a completely blood-frenzied warrior. I also really don't think that there is a "best" way to raise your child in a situation like this. There are so many unknowns that all you can do is hope for the best and keep on keeping on.