When dealing with zombies, one can find a lot of examples that relate with the theme of moral dilemma.

However, sometimes and for some people it might be difficult to kill a zombie, maybe

because they had a relation with that person in the past and it becomes difficult to just

get rid of them. For example, in the first episode of the T.V series The Walking Dead by 

Frank Darabont, Morgan, a father that was fighting to survive and trying to protect his

son from a bunch of zombies, finds himself in a situation where he does not know what

to do. His wife was a zombie and while pointing at her with a rifle he was facing the

moral dilemma of what was the best thing to do. Morgan recognizes that his wife would

never come back to normal and that it could be dangerous for him and his son to let her

live, but still he cannot let go of the past and his feelings towards her, and for that

moment he refuses to kill her. This is a moral dilemma because he is facing a moment

where he does not know what to do in order to do the right thing and what is best for

him, his son, and even people that surround them. However, guilt will probably follow

Morgan, not killing his wife was not necessarily the best thing to do. No human

deserves to be a zombie and it might be morally better for them to be killed.

It is not evident to let someone die when we believe there is still something that

can be done. Just like Morgan, there are other similar stories that relate to this situation.

Some of them show us how far people can go in order to keep their loved ones alive.

While watching T.V series or reading stories about zombies, we may think that the

characters must kill the beasts and save themselves by getting out of there, even if they

had feelings towards the person that was there before becoming a zombie. In the story

“Consumption” by Steve Eller, we have an example that goes even further than the

limits of the one of The Walking Dead. Here, Luther is keeping alive his zombie-

daughter in the back of his RV by feeding her with humans. He refuses to let her die

and even says that there is another way of doing things, “I couldn’t let her go, I couldn’t

let her die like that when there was another way.” He says that to Amber right before

hitting her and feeding her to his daughter. This goes obviously way too far. And how

would we know if Luther was doing the right thing? Why is keeping his daughter alive

better than killing innocent people? Well, this is exactly where moral dilemma is

involved. There is no right or wrong way to do things. There are just better options or

choices that may be taken.

What would happen if one is living a situation like this? How does someone can

get out of a situation like this without feeling guilty? In the article “Zombie Killing” by

Elizabeth Pearl she first explains to us that zombies may still have human feelings such

as pain and therefore it would be wrong to kill one of them, “It would be inhumane to kill

a zombie because zombies without consciousness still feel pain." If this is true, then

what would one do to survive a zombie attack without killing and without feeling guilt or

bad about it? Human beings normally will do whatever it takes to survive. Some people

may think that if killing a bunch of zombies is the only way, then it has to be done. And if

one focuses on zombies, one could say that it could be morally acceptable to kill one for

the simple reason that they are not human anymore. Assistant Professor of Philosophy

and Religious Studies Henry Pratt, in the same article “Zombie Killing”, believes that "it's

morally obligatory to kill zombies. It's a requirement like saving a drowning child or

giving to charity. You're obligated to kill zombies, but you're also obligated to kill

zombies in a way that fully respects their status as former human beings." Pratt is telling

us that is necessary to kill one if we have to. This situation is an exaggerated example

of moral dilemma, because obviously being in a situation where one has to kill a zombie

does not happen really often. However, one learns from these examples that morality is

important but does not have necessarily a right way or wrong way to do things.

In real life, one faces the same kind of situations but with different issues and

problems. One has to think carefully for the decisions we make because they may affect

the ones that surround us and may also affect us psychologically. Doing the right thing

and to get to know what to do in order to do it right is not always easy, but we just have

to put ourselves in other people’s places and we might have the answer for a lot of

questions. Also by being kind with everyone that we are dealing with, and not having

self-interested thoughts. This way, one will probably never feel like being guilty of

something.

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