99 Stories of God

46. Preference

Ted Kaczynski, who sent a number of letter bombs through the mail to individuals he believed were harming the environment through technology, hubris, and greed, was arrested shortly after two major newspapers in the United States, the Washington Post and the New York Times, agreed to publish his ten-thousand-word manifesto in their pages. Kaczynski, in his brief career, killed three individuals and maimed a few more with his bombs. He is now serving what is described as several life sentences at a maximum-security federal penitentiary.

Recently, some of his personal items were auctioned off by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the proceeds of which would go to the victims’ families, who had no intention of ever forgiving Ted Kaczynski. It must be said that Ted Kaczynski did not ask for their forgiveness.

Some of the items offered were the notorious hooded sweatshirt he often wore, a number of tools, including a wrench, and two Smith Corona portable typewriters, one of which he had used to type the manifesto. The FBI would not verify the authenticity of the other typewriter. In other words, they could not unquestionably state that Kaczynski had written anything of note upon it. Nevertheless, the winning bid for this other Smith Corona was well over eleven thousand dollars.