First Posted: 9/16/2013
The zombie phenomenon has overtaken today’s society. Whether it’s “The Walking Dead” on AMC, any George Romero movie fest, zombie pub crawls, zombie parties, or zombie hunters, we as a society have become obsessed with the undead subculture.
Imagine for a moment that it was a possibility. Not so much that you were buried and came back a gruesome, brain-craving man-eater, but that you went through life without living.
I see it all the time: girls not dancing to the music, not singing cheesy karaoke songs, and not having fun. They are out to be the “cool crew” that sits at tables and makes fun of other girls. They laugh at the ones with the guts to go dance. What they don’t realize, and I personally didn’t learn until my later 20s, is that you remember the nights you danced. You laugh the next day, and sometimes years later, at the songs you sang out of tune with 10 other friends on stage. You make the most memories when you allow yourself to live. Sitting at a table being a mean girl all night sounds about as fun as getting fingered on wing night.
I catch myself personally saying “remember that time we…” so often, none of those stories are followed up by “…sat at a table and made fun of the girl wearing shoes she couldn’t walk in, singing songs with notes she couldn’t hit, or throwing darts so bad she missed the board completely.” Maybe it’s because I am that girl. I laugh at the fact that the last time I played pool, the cue ball flew across the room while the balls on the table remained in their pretty triangular formation. That same night, I danced at a dive bar with an old man who smelled like moth balls. I lived and I live to laugh at myself.
So this one is dedicated to you, the girls who dance like Elaine from “Seinfeld,” the girls who sing the Spice Girls, the girls who laugh at themselves and unapologetically play New Kids on the Block on the jukebox and the girls who stuff their faces with Taco Bell at 1 a.m. while they speed down Wyoming Avenue.
Life is much too short to spend it undead. Zombie movies are great, but living life with a pulse and a purpose is the stuff that makes the ride worthwhile.
