Studs Terkel (1912-2008)

"Once again, I was in the thrall of sleeplessness. Now, a touch of fear that I might indeed die in my sleep distinctly possessed me. It brought forth a habit that still obsesses me. Whenever I'm about to doze off, I deliberately unclasp my hands and remove them from my breast. Every night. Even now."

"These days I think constantly of my father and brothers. They died in what should have been their prime. I, the favored, sickly little child they loved (as did my mother in her own wild way), have had so much the better of it. Though I grieved when each of my brothers died, my father's death, the first in our family, brought upon me a heartache that was too much to bear."

(From Studs Terkel, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith. New York: Ballantine, 2001)

May Studs Terkel have happiness and the causes of happiness, and be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.