To Freeze or Not

A news report the other day declares that we are getting ever closer to cryogenics becoming a common choice for those who die.

Don’t bury me. Don’t incinerate me and then spread my ashes over the ocean or my favorite tree. Instead, freeze me until a different period in time.

I would never choose such an option. I just don’t have the same desire as Walt Disney.

But, as I thought about this story, my mind began to consider Jack on Titanic. It still bothers me that he froze in that cold water. Sure, his relationship with Rose most likely would have been short lived. He was her liberator. He helped her leave the riches of life to become what she always wanted. Part of her would always love him for that, but she might have just viewed him as a passionate rebound relationship and moved on to other men. Who knows? We never had the opportunity to see that part of their lives or even imagine it. Instead, he never left the ocean. His liberation was the boat and his moments of happiness with Rose.

All these years after that movie came out, I wonder if she could have saved him. The scene where she breaks his frozen hands from the driftwood on which she was floating in the ocean frustrates me. He might have been frozen, but the boat was there to save them. Why didn’t she drag his frozen body with her. He might have been able to thaw.
You see, I had guppies one time that froze when we left home for the weekend. Such is the joy of having a wood stove for a heat supply. Soon, when the fire goes out, everything becomes quite cold in the blistery winter temperatures. My guppies didn’t die. They seem to have just been dormant for a time.

I also froze a bird one time. Same situation. Heat supply gone. Bird freezes. Don’t call PETA on me. The bird lived. He seemed to be fine, until a cat tempted him to come a little too low to the ground. The cat did not have the bird’s best intentions in mind.

So, what about Jack? I would have attempted to thaw him. They could have had many more wonderful experiences together ... at least an opportunity for them. Regardless, I just didn’t like the part where she knocks his hands off the driftwood and pushes him down into the ocean waters to be gone forever.

Cryogenics ... I wouldn’t choose it ... but Jack could might have been a good candidate.