Words of Wisdom, from Zombieland

I can't believe that in my previous post, I neglected to mention my favorite part of the movie: the tagline.  This is a family site, but sometimes you just have to push the envelope, so I'm going to quote the tagline in full.

"Nut up or shut up."

I love it.  In fact, I think it's a subtle -- though important -- improvement on the age-old, "If you're going to talk the talk, you'd better walk the walk."  In the Zombieland formulation, the talk is basically irrelevant - it's ALL about the walk.  We tend to bury our lives in an avalanche of words, with relationships discussed to death (or really, undeath), problems discussed to death, hurt and pain replayed again and again.  All too often "courage" is defined as "saying something unpopular," and the "virtuous" are those who say the right things at the right time.  Or at least express virtuous thoughts.

Yet how much do words matter?

At some point we have to stop making excuses for our actions, for the way we treat other human beings (especially those close to us), and we have to stop the endless rationalizing and temporizing that characterizes our lives.  Whether you're dealing with a job challenge, a family conflict, or a situation at home or abroad that burdens your heart there comes that key moment: nut up or shut up.  Most people do neither.  We talk, we raise our children to talk, and we live in a culture of talk.  Heck, we've built entire "helping professions" based on the simple act of talking to others about ourselves.  And yet how often is it that we REALLY don't know the right thing to do?  

Macabre comedies about the undead have much to teach us.  If we'll only listen.