Rick’s journey: Lessons of Manhood From "The Walking Dead" Conclusion

"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too..."

Rudyard Kipling

Carl thinks he'd be fine if Rick is dead.  He initiates his own rites of passage into manhood, barely making it out alive.  But he does.  He "wins." But when he has a dream (?) about his dad becoming a zombie, he can't kill his dad.  He's scared.  He's alone. 

Rick wakes up after almost being beaten to death by The Governor.  He realizes what has seemed obvious to everyone:  The world is not going to go back to the way it was.  He tried to hold on to that hope for his son and daughter. But he accepts reality, and apologizes to his son.

"You're a man Carl."

And with that, before they receive the hope of the return of a lost friend, we simply have two men.  Where will this journey lead them?  What will this journey make them?  We don't know yet, but what we do know is that so far they, and Michonne, have made a choice:

They are not zombies. 

They will not be zombies. 

We still have two men and a woman.

We see a woman's tears when she sees the silhouette of these two men. 

We hear a man's laughter when he sees her.

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
Rudyard Kipling