The Good, The Bad, and Daryl Dixon…

… Catholicism is a hard. This hardship is most intensely felt during the season of Lent. It’s only when I desire holiness does the hardness of the Catholic faith crush me under the weight of its goodness.

Yes, goodness can be crushing.

There are some people I know who are just good. Good without even trying. To them being good, doing good, having good thoughts and kind words is something that just comes naturally and effortlessly. Good people.

Not that being good is without it’s own tribulations. Doing the right thing is often the same as doing the hardest thing, but for good people the choice to do good comes with little or no hesitation.

On the opposite side of humanity are the Bad Guys. People who live only for themselves and equate acts of self sacrifice as a weakness in character. The act of putting yourself before the needs of others is at the general root of badness. Once selfishness causes the moral compass to go out of whack the door is opened wide for all types of badness. And Bad Guys are OK with that.

Goodness requires us to rise above the biological instinct of self preservation. Good Guys will do good regardless of circumstances, even at their own peril, concerning themselves instead with the consequences. To the Bad Guy, consequences be damned. Their concern is primarily the circumstance with little regard to the final outcome.

Good guys and bad guys are typically easy to spot.

People who desire with all their heart to be good but always find a way to flub it up.

Enter Daryl Dixon. [Spoilers]

Daryl Dixon is my favorite character on the show The Walking Dead, and not because he’s simply easy on the eyes. There’s more to Reedus’s character than the brooding dark horse women love to fawn over. He’s one of those people that wants to be good but to whom goodness does not come naturally. Michon is my second favorite character. She’s the true brooding dark horse who has come alive this season. While her transformation is remarkable and entertaining to watch, I think it’s Daryl’s character that suffers the most.

I get teh feeling Michon has always been a good person. Even before the zombie apocalypese. We know this was not always the case with Daryl.