Dear Professor Chomsky,

On your 80th birthday and on this tribute site I wanted to express my gratitude for the work and volunteerism you've committed toward social justice and activism. I came from a background in rural Arizona that didn't have access to the perspectives you and others articulate. It wasn't until my first years in community college, listening to your talks on Pacifica Radio, along with the journalism of Democracy Now! and others, that my conscience was turned toward struggles and difficulties in the world and how my actions might bear on them.

Like many on this site I gravitated toward your voice in particular because it was the most reasoned, knowledgeable and accessible of commenters of U.S. foreign policy. The way in which you intellectually approached polemic and politicized issues otherwise clouded in rhetoric than in logic or thought inspired many of us to approach these issues in the same way. Thanks for giving us a sense of direction and some methods with which we might tackle these difficult but pressing questions.