When it’s raining crap, go overboard!

There is a scene at the end, when King Ezekiel explains his kingdom to Carol, “I found a way to deal with the bad, by going a little bit overboard with the good.”

I nodded quietly -I understood.  I am there myself, have felt like that many times before. King Ezekiel, of course, is not real, he is a fictional character in the TV series “The Walking Dead.”

“Why would you watch a television series about Zombies?” I have been asked this question many times, and the explanation is simple. It’s not about the zombies, they are a footnote, the series is about humankind fighting for survival. In the series everything we have in our everyday lives is gone, there is no government, no internet, no airports, no TV and no cell phones. Regular, ordinary people become survivors and heroes, some of them become villains. Just like in real life, people have different characters and personalities; some are good, some turn out to be evil. Some raise to the occasion, while others crumble.

On TV humans are fighting against each other, stealing from each other to gain personal profit in the form of secure housing, medications, and food. Other’s help each other in times of need.

“I found a way to deal with the bad, by going a little bit overboard with the good.” That’s a pretty good recipe to make life a little bit brighter.

Isn’t that what we all should do?

Going overboard with the good is a brilliant principle. Why don’t we? It doesn’t have to be big, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.

We live in scary times and our Holiday planning is in full swing. Our “Friendsgiving” this year will be bigger than usual. We will serve more dishes than last year, and we will include the homeless in our turkey-leftover program -thanks to a new friend I made.

Our neighbor across the street knows that this will be her last Holiday Season, her cancer has spread. She is in good spirit, and her smile is contagious as always; she and her family will celebrate the Holidays a little bit bigger this year, and I will be happily part of it.

We all need good memories to deal with the everyday crap that is thrown at us; bad times make us yearn for the good.

Invite your neighbors and have a cookie party this year or have a coat and blanket drive for the homeless. Provide a family in need with food or buy Christmas cards and give them to people who don’t have a family. Invite a coworker into your home, who would celebrate alone. The possibilities are endless; the reward is incredible.

Let’s go overboard with the good!