By JUXHINA MALAJ
I do not believe in the zombie apocalypse, and it is not because of the reasons you may think – it’s because we are already living in the zombie apocalypse.
How many times has it happened to you that you are walking on the sidewalk and the person in front of you, out of nowhere – stops. Sometimes they stop to read carefully something on their phones. Sometimes they’re just trying to find a destination and stare at their phones and wander around like they’re were just teleported there and do not know what language we humans speak.
What is it about technology that makes it so tempting over human interaction? Does it make these zombies get energy from it in order to survive? Since zombies are attracted to brain, (so they say) it kind of makes sense that they would choose technology over humans any time, as humans have limitations, whilst technology can give them any information they want at any time. It can also make them feel alive by feeling appreciated and important from getting the sense they belong to a large community.
But technology is not the only thing contributing to a zombie-like society in Albania. I’ve noticed people laying their eyes on every cool fashion trend that has just been introduced- be it on people walking on the streets or mannequins on window displays. They follow fashion like their lives depend on it.
The zombie effect is just a filter added to the Albanian society which has suffered for centuries, and it still is. Maybe not at the same level as it once was, but the suffering and ignorance is still present. The way some Albanians behave and present themselves within and outside of Albania is quite extraordinary in itself.
If you happen to take a bus, any bus in Tirana for example, besides having to put up with exotic smells you may encounter, you will for sure have the chance to get unnecessary information of somebody’s life while they loudly speak on their phone during the whole ride. And when you finally get to your destination, be careful not to look closely at people in front of you as they might just spit on the floor like no one is watching.
While I can avoid getting the bus most of the time, I cannot do anything to avoid witnessing the different ways people walking in front of me spit on the floor. I sometimes think James Cameron is directing those life scenes, and I always get this feeling that the ones spitting are just trying to get the role of Jack in the Titanic by teaching Rose how to spit as far as possible.
But Cameron never shows up, and those people keep giving their best.
Quite similarly, a lot of Albanians feel like anything they do not want anymore can just be thrown on the ground, as if it belongs there. Not on trash cans, but on the ground. Just recently, on my way home, I saw several traces of green plums’ seeds thrown on the streets. Some of them were whole plums, some of them just seeds. Not sure what message the person who did it was trying to convey. Maybe this person was trying to leave traces behind so that whoever found the seeds would follow them and find him/her. Maybe this person needed help. Who knows?
But why were some of them whole plums? Was this person inviting other people to join his/her journey? Can we predict when the actual zombie apocalypse may happen by discovering the formula behind the distance from one thrown plum seed to the other? We may never find out…
Maybe I should start watching that popular show: The Walking Dead. It’s about time. But honestly, I feel like I’ve already been watching parts of it – dead people walking on the streets with their souls and brains eaten by technology and what not. To me, they are the modern-life zombies and they’re eventually going to eat our souls too, little by little.
Can we do anything to prevent it? Maybe. Should we try to defend ourselves against them the same way we would in the rare occasion a zombie apocalypse happens? Maybe not. What we can do in the meantime though, is try to save ourselves from the zombie-like infected parts of our minds and souls and hope that the future generations will do the same.
