noam name in the street

he is 80. recently, he lost his wife of close to 60 years. noam chomsky is one of the great scholars of our time. i have seen him many times. once, i saw him on the train, sat down next to him, rode with him to umass boston, where he was speaking, and then had the honor of doing a number 1 side by side with the great man. at this point, i tend toward cynicism, and have even mocked him as the "elvis of the left." and it is true that he draws a crowd because he is chomsky. and yet, a great man he is still. today, he spoke at mit, the school that he has worked at for decades. not surprisingly, his lecture was on the ongoing israeli war crime that is the destruction of gaza. his analysis was, as always, brilliant, his humor dry, his style not that of a great speaker but of one with so much to say that style is beside the point. at 80, he is still a machine, quoting this and paraphrasing that. he needs no notes, seemingly able to recall every relevant bit of information from the resources of his marvelous mind. i made the mistake of getting there on time. therefore, there were no seats, so dozens of us gathered in front of a tv and watched the talk. all cynicism aside, the man is a treasure, a monster of a man.

and so, he persists in telling the truth. few listen, and those who do own no bombs and command no armies. and yet, he has reached many, and influenced all who he has reached. i will always remember meeting him for the first time as a funny 19 year old. i held my hand out and described myself as a marxist leninist maoist stalinist. he smiled, getting the gag. and 10 years later, noam still gets it. and so, he fights on, condemning the powerful criminals of the u.s, israel, and elsewhere. he knows no other way. and for that, we are fortunate.