Thats why I wrote this book: to show how these people can imbue us with hope. I read somewhere that when a person takes part in community action, his health improves. Something happens to him or to her biologically. Its like a tonic. – Studs Terkel
Religion obviously played a role in this book and the previous book, too. – Studs Terkel
I think its realistic to have hope. One can be a perverse idealist and say the easiest thing: I despair. The worlds no good. Thats a perverse idealist. Its practical to hope, because the hope is for us to survive as a human species. Thats very realistic. – Studs Terkel
There is a story, which is fairly well known, about when the missionaries came to Africa. They had the Bible and we, the natives, had the land. They said “Let us pray,” and we dutifully shut our eyes. When we opened them, why, they now had the land and we had the Bible. – Desmond M. Tutu, “Religious Human Rights and the Bible”