This quote is an excerpt from the poem “Let the Dead Bury Their Dead” and is based on an often misunderstood statement Jesus makes in the Bible(Matt 8:21-22). How can the dead bury the dead? Manual labor is generally considered beyond the capabilities of those who have died. This poem from Lawrence of Arabia gives us an idea of what Jesus was talking about. He did not mean those who are physically dead, but those who are spiritually dead. Those who are spiritually dead can be considered to be in two groups: those who have lost there souls due to evil acts such as murder or rape and those who still have their souls, but make no use of it and concentrate all their efforts on achievements in the material world as is described in the quote above. For those who have lost their souls, by which I mean those who's souls have separated from them and returned to heaven leaving them behind, there is nothing that can be done except to try to avoid them and their influence. To attempt to redeem such people is as useless as trying to redeem a frog. For the other type of walking dead, the complete materialists, there is hope and some of them may still be saved. So if you know people like that, it is not really a waste of time to try to help them awaken to the spiritual but, on the other hand, you should not be surprised or disappointed when you efforts to get them interested fail. Just move on to helping someone else.