Studs Terkel: Hope Dies Last
In his last Interview, the Eternal Optimist Leaves Behind a Legacy of Hope.
My mother ran a hotel, the Wells-Grand Hotel, for men, just outside Chicago’s skid row. Skilled workers. Mechanics. Guys with jobs here and there. Some retired. It was fine. The lobby in the hotel was empty in the daytime. It was just a little room, and at night they’d come play hearts and pinochle. Then came 1929. Suddenly they’re not working. Or those guys who retired, suddenly their pensions are gone. Now they’re in the lobby in the daytime. They don’t know what the hell to do. So they drank more. And played the horses more. And there were fights. What were the fights over? Their own self-respect. I mean, they had nothing to do. They were furious. Who do you blame? Who do you hit? You hit each other. That was sort of a metaphor for what happened to the country. They blamed themselves. Yet I met these people who weathered it one way or the other, some just by lending a hand.
There was this lawyer, Pearl Hart. She was wonderful. One of her clients was this girl picked up on the streets along with her trick. This girl was in court with hands trembling as the judge called her all these names. And Pearl, a huge woman, put her arm around the girl, who instantly straightened up. That’s where hope comes from, just standing up.
The lessons of the Great Depression? Don’t blame yourself. Turn to others. Take part in the community. The big boys are not that bright.
Hope dies last—“La esperanza muere última.” Without hope, you can’t make it. And so long as we have that hope, we’ll be okay. Once you become active helping others, you feel alive. You don’t feel, “It’s my fault.” You become a different person. And others are changed, too.
Studs Terkel’s P.S.: Further Thoughts From a Lifetime of Listening (New Press) was published in November. Alex Kotlowitz is the author of There Are No Children Here (Anchor) and Never a City So Real: A Walk in Chicago (Crown).
Don't miss Alex Kotlowitz's tribute to Studs Terkel on AARP Bulletin Today
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