Noam Chomsky is 95, and according to a tweet I just saw, his health “has deteriorated to the point it now prevents him from writing, commenting or participating in the public domain.”
I put this letter from him up as one miniscule example of just how wonderful -and life-changing – his work (the lectures and books, but also the endless correspondence) has been to so many.
If you haven’t read Chomsky, please do (my personal favourite is World Orders, Old and New, but just start anywhere.
The context for this letter – I was at that time a (not very good) aid worker in Angola. I was seeing horror all around me. I had a copy of World Orders, that I’d read closely, twice. I wrote to him, asking how he kept his hope alive. I asked if he could reply both to Angola and to Denmark (where I would return in a few months). I got a reply in Angola, and a copy was waiting for me in Denmark too. We corresponded on and off after that, and in 2008 my wife and I put on an event “Chomsky at 80” in Manchester, which he was okay with once I assured him it wasn’t hagiography but “how is the work useful to ongoing struggles.”
If you have examples of Chomsky’s kindness, diligence, intelligence, please share.
marchudson.net 
Noam Chomsky is a very private person, and his correspondence with many individuals such as yourself should remain confidential until after his death.
Alternatively, “Booker”, you could have asked if I had his permission to post it. And I’d have replied “many years ago I asked Noam if he was okay with it being published and he said that it was entirely up to me.”
What a very very odd comment for you to have made. I can’t figure out if it’s performance art, or concern trolling or just trying to get attention from people. If the third, well, I guess you’ve succeeded. Well done!!!
Thankyou for sharing this letter, there is never enough examples of Chomskys work, ethos and morality. I sent Noam an email back in 2016, just to say thankyou, he replied, just amazing. I cant get my local MP to reply, how many emails must Noam receive?!
Thanks for commenting Clive. You’re right – we need more examples of the way Chomsky has responded to people.