Studs Terkel – Inspiration and Motivation
Hello Fellow Entreprenuers!
If you glance through his life, there are many astounding facts about this man who was born in 1912 to a tailor father and a circus performer mom!
Read over this list and you’ll get a snapshot of someone I’d like to meet!
The man with the funny name, Studs Terkel…
- Graduated from Law School but didn’t practice Law…Instead, he joined a theater group while he worked as a hotel concierge!
- Has a charming voice, which is highly recognized from his radio program out of a Chicago, Illinois station that aired every weekday from 1952 to 1997.
- Published his first book in 1956 and his latest book in 2007.
- Won a Pulitzer Prize in 1985.
- Is a distinguished Scholar-in-Residence for the Chicago History Museum.
- Has never learned to drive!
- Played a reporter in the 1988 Hollywood baseball movie about the 1919 World Series, “Eight Men Out.”
- At 93, is one of the oldest people ever to survive open heart surgery!
- Received the annual U.S. literary award recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace (the Dayton Literary Peace Prize) in 2006.
Studs Terkel represents a multi-faceted man. Not one for inactivity, he continues to thrive on information, activity and stimulation. Even as he ages, he stays current on events, world happenings and culture. 
What is his favorite sport? It is still baseball.
His favorite subject? History. An intense historian he believes, “We can’t make any choices unless we connect the past with the present.”
His greatest worry for his beloved America? “The thing that horrifies me is the forgetfulness.” It is a worry that the American people will forget the tragedies and triumphs of its history and doom it to repeat past mistakes and thus taint its future.
Studs spent much of his life recounting oral histories of the working person. Through his books he preserved much of the blood, sweat and tears of successful Americans. He listened to story after story, made comments and then compiled those tales into books. I imagine his heart is brimming with the memories of unstoppable people who made dreams their reality. Studs recognizes the power of storytelling.
His most cherished accomplishment of his life? (My favorite answer comes next.)
“If I did one thing I’m proud of, it’s to make people feel that together, they count!”
That is something grand to be proud of accomplishing. I want to feel that way. I bet you do also.
You know we can. Even if we never pen a book or hear our voice ringing out over the radio waves, we can usher others into the fact that together we count and we do make a difference in this world.
Today as you live, remember Studs and remember that.
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