give it up for Neil

out there in our world
there are brilliant individuals
whose minds are incredible,
awesome & inspiring,
bearing thoughts, ideas &
theories, which many of us
wouldn’t be able to fathom
if the thinker her/himself
sat down at our breakfast table
& spoon fed it to us
like we were good little Gerber
babies.

there are funny wo/men out
there also,
who with one quick quip or
deliberate body gesture, facial
contortion or humorous act
which may up to this point have
no definition at all,
are able to tickle our funny bone,
sending us into a fit of
laughter, which may very well
create pain in our gut or
cause us to fall right out of our
chairs.

unfortunately it is the case that
seldom do these two vital human
qualities exist within the same being &
when you come across someone
who possesses both,
your jaw might drop at the same time
you begin to quake with an almost
violent
guffaw---
this writer does feel that
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson fits the bill.

Dr. Neil can captivate an audience---
armed with a comforting smile,
razor sharp wit & pure down to
earth sagacity,
in just over an hour (maybe less)
he can take those who held
absolutely no interest in Science
whatsoever,
and with an uncanny ability to weave
the most wondrous & complicated
descriptions of what goes on in the
cosmos,
with jokes & anecdotes
in a communicative way that does not
have an agenda,
outside that of education,
he is able to turn on whole crowds
to a love of Science!

and once you see him,
you won’t be able to get enough---
you’ll watch all the youtube lectures he
did,
and you’ll read all his books &
the whole time,
you’ll be learning things
which had they been brought you
by someone else,
you might have just been bored listening,
or ignored outright.

though many good intentioned smart
wo/men
will do their best to convey
all their research &
they’ll do so with all the compassion that
they can muster,
how unquestionably important it is to
have someone like Neil
bearing as much communicative talent
as he does sheer intelligence,
so that he might continue to
illuminate the world,
showing his own love for what he does &
what has always interested him,
so that he may pass it on,
igniting further amazement in us all,
so that so many break the chains of
religious dogmas which have
kept their eyes & their minds
shut & closed for so long!