The Letter That Broke the News on Ted’s Terminal Cancer

Dear Mr. [REDACTED],

Thank you for your kind letter postmarked December 23, 2021, which I received on January 27, 2022. You conclude your letter with: “Get Well Soon. There is yet work to be done.” You’re right. There is work to be done, a lot of work. In fact, the work has barely started. But I won’t be able to do much of it. I’m not going to “get well soon” - - or ever - - because I have terminal cancer. I can’t expect to live more than two years at the outside, and I may well be dead in less than a year, so the work will have to be done by younger people.

What about you? What are you doing? I’m told that you’ve ordered a paperback French & English dictionary for me, for which I thank you. But, seen in relation to the problems we face, the matter of the dictionary is Trivial. Have you been following the recommendations in sections 28 & 29 of Chapter Four of Anti-Tech Revolution? Have you made any efforts at organization, in accord with Rule (iii) of Chapter Three? If you want to organize but don’t know where to begin, let me know, and I’ll give you some suggestions. But my suggestions will not be easy to carry out. We don’t want dilettantes who are ready to do only what is easy, we need people who are capable of total commitment and are prepared to take on any task no matter how difficult or unpleasant or time-consuming it may be.

Yours for Wild Nature,
Ted Kaczynski