X-Message-Number: 31782
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:23:39 -0400
Subject: Meekness and Blessedness
From: Charles Platt <>

Steve Harris writes, "When it comes to cryonics, blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth."

Well, I know what he means, and I realize Steve did not intend to be
interpreted literally--but this has to be the first time anyone
referred to Curtis Henderson, by implication, as "meek"! Moreover
cryonics wouldn't exist as it does today if Alcor, in particular,
hadn't been willing to fight legislative battles very vigorously.

Long ago, when I asked Curtis Henderson about his long-term objective,
he gave me his bulldog look and barked, "World domination, of course!"
This was not entirely a manifestation of Curtis's sense of humor. It's
easy to forget that back in the day, when Curtis cofounded the
Cryonics Society of New York, there was still some room to imagine
that if cryonics were actively promoted, the concept really could
sweep the nation and, by extension, the world. That's what anyone
should expect from a "cure for death," right? A few decades later,
we've learned the hard way that it isn't that easy. Certainly I don't
think meekness is going to take us much farther down the road, and
being a singer-dancer celebrity, or even a bestselling science-fiction
author, looks easy by comparison.

I have to add that if it had not been for Curtis and a few others, my
life would have been very different. The debt is large indeed.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=31782