Thoughts about the Season 3 Finale of The Walking Dead
by Stan Faryna
My thoughts about tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead may surprise you. My intention is not to hand out a fist full of spoilers.
Hristos a înviat!
Truth can be found in the strangest of places.
Even in a television show about a zombie apocalypse. Even in one of the bloodiest episodes of The Walking Dead…
…
Andrea: “No one can make it alone now…”
Daryl Dixon: “Never could.”
…
No one can make it alone
DUH!
This is an ontological truth – we don’t need the world to end to understand this truth. We don’t need an apocalypse (zombie or otherwise) to understand that as much as we have a right to be here, so others also have the right to be here.
Deeper than this is the truth that we are here not just for ourselves, but also for others. Just as they are here for us.
As my friend, Jack King, often says – We are connected. In his book, One With The People, Jack tells the story of a young, Native American girl, that receives wisdom. Among the things she learns on her journey to become a leader, is the sacred circle that connects us and gives us meaning as participants in the goodness, wonder and beauty of Creation.
Check out Jack’s book here:
http://www.amazon.com/One-People-Everything-Need-Leader/dp/1482658623/
Disclaimer: I receive no financial compensation whatsoever by this link to Jack’s book or by the sale of his book.
…
…
No one can make it alone
If we fail to understand this truth, together – this broken world will fall apart. And nothing will save me, you or the ones you love from the horror, pain and anguish of what comes with that.
No amount of ammunition. No store of canned food and MREs. No level of preps will save you and yours.
No pre-pubescent Carl Rimes kind of psychotic bravado will take back what was lost – a world in which we had every opportunity to love, to shine bright and unlock a greater human potential. And that is something we all need to think about. Sooner or later. Hopefully, sooner.
We want something more.
And that something more is us. Together, we are something more.
No one can make it alone
Do you get it?
…
Stan Faryna
31 March 2013
Fairfax, Virginia
Follow me on Twitter: @Faryna
The unofficial blog of Stan Faryna 
Now former show runner Glen Mazzara was in Australia a few weeks ago and I listened to a radio interview with him. The way he was talking, it sounded as if he was fully on board with the Randian “every survivor for themselves”, “let the weak die” approach of most Doomsday preppers. So the message in the finale was quite a pleasant surprise to me.
Thanks for dropping by Leah!
It’s easy enough for anyone to say, “every Man for himself,” when we are sitting in front of the tele chomping on a delivered pizza, checking into Facebook, the credit card maxed out, and admiring that long gun across the room. An apocalypse may even seem preferable to us dealing with the long, agonizing and stressful grind of our personal problems – not to mention the larger problems of state, nation, or humanity.
But are we quitters?! Really? Ain’t nothing more weak than being a quitter…
Here’s some inspiration:
Precisely the reason I do family history.:)
Good job, Stan.
And you keep on doing it, Bets!
[Stan, thank you beautiful friend for sharing my love of leadership and the news of my first book release. Big hug!]
‘Okiciyapo,’ help one another.
Why? Because ‘no one can make it alone.’
The Lakota teach, mi’taku’ye o’yasin. We are relations. We are one.
Mi’ taku’ye o’yasin is the junction where everything real, seen and unseen, past, present, and future, comes together to help us get to the other side. In truth, it helps us get here (touch your heart with me). Mi’ taku’ye o’yasin is the great hoop, the circle that connects all things in the universe — the two-, four-, and many-legged, the flowers, plants, and trees, the rocks, pebbles, and stones, the rivers, streams, and seas, the fish, insects, and birds, the mountains, buttes, and valleys, and the sun, moon, and sky — to destiny. Each part of the whole is mindful of the other — the one to the east, to the south, to the west, and to the north; even the one above to the one below, and all to the one within.
Nothing can happen to one that doesn’t happen to all. Whatever harms one, harms all. Whatever destroys one, destroys all. Whatever serves one, serves all. Whatever loves one, loves all. Because one is no more important than another, each deeply respects, honors, and loves the other.
Mi’ taku’ye o’yasin is the recognition of our self in another, a reflection awakened by the true humility arising from the awareness we are never alone and nothing exists in isolation. As we learn to let our love expect and demand nothing, but fulfill everything, at least for a moment, for another, mi’ taku’ye o’yasin takes on a simple, natural, unassuming presence in our life. It is a presence that shows us we are one, and in our unity with all things, we become at once nothing and everything.
Mi’ taku’ye o’yasin awakens us to our true nature in response to our quest for inner peace and greater fulfillment; it helps us perceive time-without-beginning-or-end — it helps us perceive now, the present moment. In our growing awareness, we surrender to align ourselves with our journey home. There, we discover our own being is one with the present moment, and our own depth is somehow one with the depth of the universe. If we are to dance — or sing — in the silence and stillness of who we are, we must first learn from mi’ taku’ye o’yasin how to uphold the way of peace, to balance a kind heart, wisdom, a generous spirit, compassion, tolerance, acceptance, humility, and gratitude, within the wholeness — indeed, the sacredness — of a life of love lived for truth.
From the spider’s web, to the pebble beneath the water’s edge, from the day dreamer to the master weaver, from the mysterious forces of nature that create and destroy to the elements of antiquity — earth, wind, fire, water (and spirit) — that give rise to our existence, all are related and worthy of respect. Like the colors that rise after the rain, mi’ taku’ye o’yasin reaches out and stirs us. It empowers us to remove from within whatever it is that keeps love from connecting us to our relations near and far. Mi’ taku’ye o’yasin has been here all along.
If what you just read resonates with you, let me invite you to join me and a few unbelievable, committed nonconformists who want to share incredibly diverse gifts as, together, we dedicate our lives, love, and leadership for the greater good, harnessing our combined talents to bring about great change in our world. After all, often one cannot see the rainbow they leave behind in another’s life, yet it is for us to color their world beautiful anyway. Will you join our Clapham Circle?
Thanks for sharing your heart with us, Jack.
What is a Clapham Circle?
And the truth is out there…..
I was surprised to see Andrea get bitten; yikes.
I almost bought into Andrea’s excuses, Bill. But not really. [grin]
Andrea just wasn’t going to make a difference. Those are some mean script writers…
“We want something more. Together, we are something more.”
Loved your thoughts here, Stan. It’s truth. It’s empowering.
We are all connected. Together we are stronger.
The power in unity of the human spirit is only limited by division, confusion, ego, stupidity and self.
Eliminate those things in human nature and we’ll consume the universe 😮
Man I love how you think – have I told you that before?
Mark, I’m thankful for your encouragement. You lift me up, brother.