I never met Joe Reid, and I never saw a photograph of him, so I didn't know that Joe was an old man. I only discovered this after Joe died, when someone mentioned to me that he was 90 years old!
In the last six years of his life, I knew Joe Reid as an active, vigorous, and passionate man who cared deeply about his fellow residents on the planet Earth. Joe strongly believed that he could make many people's lives simpler, easier, and happier by encouraging them to adopt the metric system. He was a passionate metrication activist, who has been likened to Lord Kelvin in the UK, Jean Henry Van Swinden in The Netherlands, and Louis Sokol in the USA. To my mind, Joe was a true citizen of the world; he cared that metrication should be applied universally, and he did whatever he could to make that happen. I first met Joe Reid, on the internet, about six years ago. During the time that I knew Joe, he wrote to me about once a month. The purpose of his notes was often to quietly correct some of the more outrageous public blunders to which I am prone. Joe's generosity of spirit was always present, and his notes were always courteous, but he also felt comfortable opening his remarks with words such as 'Nonsense' � ! On the very rare occasions when I was able to point out a small error to Joe, he was always prepared to admit it and to correct it immediately. Joe seemed to have little personal pride where knowledge was concerned. I soon found out that I was not alone in my correspondence with Joe. He wrote to many others, in many countries, around the world. Joe's caring and sharing of both his knowledge, and his time, with so many people all around the world was a beacon to which many were attracted. Between Joe's private messages, I also had the opportunity to read many hundreds of postings that Joe made to the United States Metric Association and to the United Kingdom Metric Association. These were always topical and in touch both with recent Canadian and world history. Joe's last posting to the United States Metric Association was only two weeks before his death. On reviewing some of Joe's correspondence, I realised the sheer breadth of Joe's knowledge and his understanding. He was perfectly at ease discussing subjects such as translations from Agricola (where Joe apologised for using High German), building construction, clothing manufacture, computers, cooking, government policy, humanism, international diplomacy, mathematics, music, poetry, religion, and road construction. I know that there are many others who admired Joe, and who, perhaps like me, didn't know that he was an old man until after his death. I will miss Joe. I will miss his presence and his role of being the conscience of the metric community all around the world. But mostly I think that I will miss him as one of those few people who are able to make a difference. To paraphrase Margaret Mead, whenever I reflect on the life of Joe Reid, I will think: 'Never doubt that a thoughtful committed citizen can change the world; indeed it�s the only thing that ever has.' Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia [EMAIL PROTECTED]
