59 pages • 1 hour read
This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women
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Foreword-IntroductionChapter Summaries & Analyses
Foreword Summary
Studs Terkel notes that the concerns and problems that plague America in the 2000s are the same ones that motivated Edward R. Murrow to broadcast the first program of This I Believe in the 1950s. The same concerns also featured in the writings of the revolutionary Thomas Paine in the 18th century. Terkel claims that all people seek freedom, which requires truth and reason, but that in times of conflict freedom is often suppressed by governments suspicious of unconventional beliefs.
Terkel shares many of his own beliefs with other essayists who contributed to this volume. He agrees with Andrew Sullivan that the pursuit of happiness is ultimately more significant than its attainment. He also shares Hellen Keller’s belief in the power of activism, having seen the power of collective action during the Great Depression when neighbors helped to move an evicted family back into their home. He also concurs with Albert Einstein’s observation that while many Westerners seem to believe that joining a union or community curbs their individual freedom, the opposite is actually true. Terkel values truth, as do all of the writers who express their honest perspective publicly. He contrasts the Biblical figure Pontius Pilate, who tried to absolve himself of guilt in spite of the truth, with modern journalists such as James Cameron and Errol Morris, who pursue truth at the expense of their own comfort.
Terkel tends to express his own beliefs freely in his everyday life, despite his lingering uncertainty in the face of a world that continues to astonish him. Although he envies those with religious faith for their certainty, he himself is an agnostic, which he characterizes as “a cowardly atheist.” He is skeptical of social or political labels, which he considers all but meaningless. Redefining the words based on their root definitions, he identifies as “radical conservative” because he likes to get to the root of things, and believes in conservation. For him, a credo or belief is different from an action because it is something that one not only thinks, but also pursues and acts upon.
Introduction Summary
Jay Allison opens the Introduction by recalling the original This I Believe program, which was a daily radio staple which ran on the CBS network from 1951-1955. It was hosted by Edward R. Murrow and invited individuals from all walks of life to summarize their personal credo in a short essay and share it with the world. Many regional versions of the program were made, and many collections of these essays were published. 50 years later, Allison and his colleagues revived the program on NPR in an America which was divided by many of the same issues which troubled the nation in the 1950s.
Following guidance given by creators of the original radio series, contributors were instructed to present their beliefs in positive, personal terms without reliance on sermonizing or dogma. Unlike the original series, submissions were also accepted from members of the public through the This I Believe website. The website retains an archive of all submissions, and reviewers select outstanding contributions from this archive to be refined and recorded for the radio program and book collections. Common themes in these essays tend to include reflections on family, religion, and patriotism, and often focus on lessons learnt through hardship.
Allison acknowledges that writing a This I Believe essay is challenging, and that sharing the essay is an act of great courage. Personal beliefs can only be threatened when they are not defined and acknowledged to oneself. Allison believes that because large media conglomerations control much of public discourse in the modern era, engaging communities in communicating and listening at the grassroots level is needed to bypass this gatekeeping.
This I Believe essays are also an excellent opportunity for quiet reflection on the wisdom of lifetimes, counteracting the trend of the modern news cycle to focus on rapid-fire content. Allison’s own private This I Believe essay is centered on the importance of listening. He invites the reader to listen to the beliefs expressed in this book with an open mind, and to consider what they themselves would say in such an essay.
Foreword-Introduction Analysis
Allison was chosen to write the Introduction to this book because of his role as co-editor, and his intimate involvement in the 2000s radio show This I Believe (See: Key Figures). In contrast, Terkel has no prior involvement in any iteration of This I Believe, but he is a notable radio journalist. His writing the Foreword is an implicit endorsement of the book’s ethos and quality from an influential industry authority.
The Foreword and Introduction sections are each significantly longer than the individual essays which make up the main body of the book. This is because although they cover many of the same topics and themes as the essays themselves, they also serve the functional purpose of explaining the purpose and context of the essays to the reader. The tone and language of these sections are similar to the essays: Quite informal and non-standardized, reflecting the personal voice of the writers.
Both Terkel and Allison speak of their personal life experiences and values in the first person, but address the audience in the direct second person, which is meant to create a sense of intimacy with the reader. Along with the Afterword and Appendixes which come at the end of the book, these sections bookend and frame the main body of essays. They provide a crash course on This I Believe Inc. as well as the history of the idea and its actualization. Additionally, these sections lay out the aims and values of the book’s creators, and suggest how the reader can best engage with the book’s content.
Allison writes the Introduction to this book much as he gave the introduction to each episode of the 2000s NPR program This I Believe on the radio. Allison’s Introduction shares many themes and talking points with Murrow’s introduction to the 1950s series in Appendix A. However Allison’s style of writing is of a less elevated register—reflecting the shift in linguistic norms over the past 50 years—and he also puts less focus on current geopolitical tensions.
Terkel makes frequent cultural and literary references throughout his Foreword, as well as mentioning or paraphrasing numerous notable public figures. Some of these figures, like Einstein, wrote This I Believe essays of their own. Others, like Morris, are simply well-known in their fields. He gives a humorous nod to this characteristic of his own writing style by admitting that he enjoys paraphrasing Einstein in particular, because people are less likely to contradict him when he does so.
Terkel’s essay also introduces the collection’s key theme of The Influence of Personal Beliefs on Behavior. While describing his preference for the pursuit of happiness over a preoccupation with attaining it, he references John Keats’s (1795-1821) poem Ode on a Grecian Urn. In this poem, the figure of the lusty youth depicted on the titular urn is frozen forever in the unending pursuit of his beloved. This permanent stasis through art preserves the figure’s beauty and youth, as well as the beauty of the wider scene, which would otherwise be doomed to fade and end. Terkel expresses that the youth’s state of eternal pursuit is preferable to him catching his love, because doing so would end the merry chase and doom them to suffer the ravages of time.
Through this reference, Terkel justifies his own high estimation of the pursuit of happiness: By never having his craving for joy satisfied, he ensures that the journey and effort to obtain it never ends, and thus, that the state of happiness itself never ends either. Although Terkel doesn’t directly quote the poem himself, his invocation of Ode on a Grecian Urn encapsulates Terkel’s own commitment and dedication to the truth.
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