The Last Man on Earth

What would it be like if you were the very last human on this planet? Ohhhh wait - not just the last human, but probably the last mammal --- maybe even the last living creature?

How long would it take before you'd go insane? Before the loneliness drove you to complete and utter despair?

Robert Morgan is not alone, however. He is surrounded by freaks. Monsters. Zombie-like vampires whose only desire is to eat the last bit of fresh meat on the planet. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The Last Man on Earth is based on the Richard Matheson novel: I AM LEGEND. The premise of the story is that a worldwide pandemic has wiped out all of humanity - all except for Robert Morgan (Robert Neville in the book). For some reason, Morgan is immune to the virus; and after watching all his friends, loved-ones, neighbors and even his enemies die and then come back as soulless undead, he finds himself alone in a world surrounded by zombie-like vampires who can't carry a good conversation but would love to have him over for dinner.

How often have I wanted to be left alone - nobody to interrupt me as I pursued my own selfish desires. Quiet time to read, to watch television or a movie, to surf the internet to my heart's content, to just lay around and do nothing. How quickly the fruit grows bitter and spoils when there is no choice but to be alone. The hermit can always leave his cave and rejoin society --- but not so Robert Morgan. The free food, free cars, first pick of house and clothes and electronic toys freely at his disposal cannot in any way make up for the lack of companionship - the lack of community - the lack of personal friendship and family. And Robert Morgan lived at a time BEFORE Nintendo, Playstation or XBOX. How AWFUL to be alone with absolutely nothing to do!

As a movie, and even as a book for that matter, this story isn't as much terrifying as it is depressing (although, that scene in the movie where Robert's wife comes back from the dead still gives me chills everytime I see it!)

Nevertheless, I find this story to be the ultimate TRAGEDY in the best sense of that genre. Oedipus Rex has nothing on Robert Morgan. Julius Caesar, likewise, does not compare. Even Robinson Crusoe, who at least had hope that someone, someday would find him, cannot hold a candle to the tragic turn of events in Robert Morgan's life.

And that, my friends, is the crux of this story: There is NO hope! Towards the end, we meet the vampire-zombie half-breeds - infected but still living / not living-dead. "Freaks" Robert called them. Every day for them is a fight to survive - to overcome the virus which wants to overtake their bodies - which wants to turn them into the insatiable undead. They live in a world devoid of life, devoid of hope, devoid of any real future. Sure, there are plants, trees and grass - but no insects to annoy them - no animals to comfort them - not even the song of a sparrow or the buzz of a cicada fly to break up their days - to color their boring, monochrome existence.

Robert Morgan was the last man on earth - the last being created in the image of God. And in the end, Robert Morgan was no more. If this is the way it really has to end, I'd rather end it right here - right now.

Thank God, I have a far better and more certain hope than that which died with Robert Morgan; for without my faith in the Omega Man, the Alpha and Omega Man that is, this waste of time on planet earth would be the epitome of hopelessness - and nothing more - indeed, nothing more.