Learn English Oprah Winfrey Its a story of who you want to be with BIG Subtitles
oh my goodness
[Music]
Wow the president Foust my fellow honor
ons Karl that was so beautiful thank you
so much
and James Rothenberg Stephanie Wilson
Harvard faculty with a special bow to my
friend dr. Henry Louis Gates all of you
alumni with a special bow to the class
of 88 115 million dollars and to you
members of the Harvard class of 2013
hello I thank you for allowing me to be
a part of the conclusion of this chapter
of your lives and the commencement of
your next chapter to say that I’m
honored doesn’t even begin to quantify
the depth of gratitude that really
accompanies an honorary Doctorate from
Harvard not too many little girls from
rural Mississippi have made it all the
way here to Cambridge and I can tell you
that I consider today as I sat on the
stage this morning getting teary for you
all and then teary for myself I consider
today a defining milestone in a very
long and and a blessed journey my one
hope today is is to is that I can be a
source of some inspiration I’m going to
address my remarks to anybody who’s ever
felt inferior or felt disadvantaged felt
screwed by life this is a speech for the
quad
[Laughter]
actually I will I was so honored I
wanted to do something really special
for you I wanted to be able to have you
look under your seats and there would be
free free a master and doctoral degrees
but I see I see you got that covered
already I will be honest with you I felt
a lot of pressure over the past few
weeks to come up with something that I
could share with you that you hadn’t
heard before because after all y’all
went to Harvard I did not but then I
realize that you don’t have to
necessarily go to Harvard to have a
driven obsessive type-a personality but
it helps and while I may not have
graduated from here I admit that my
personality is about as Harvard as they
come you know my my television career
began unexpectedly as you heard this
morning I was in the Miss
fire-prevention contest that was when I
was 16 years old in Nashville Tennessee
and you had the requirement of having to
have red hair in order to win up until
the year that I entered so they were
during the question and answer period
because I knew I wasn’t going to win and
the swimsuit competition
so during the question and answer period
the question came why young lady what
would you like to be when you grow up
and by the time they got to me all the
good answers were gone so I had seen
Barbara Walters on The Today Show that
morning so I answered I would like to be
a journalist I would like to tell other
people’s stories in a way that makes a
difference in their lives and the world
and as those words were coming out of my
mouth I went
pretty good I would like to be a
journalist I want to make a difference
well I was on television by the time I
was 19 years old and in 1986 I launched
my own television show with a relentless
determination to succeed at first I was
nervous about the competition and then I
became my own competition raising the
bar every year pushing pushing pushing
myself as hard as I knew sound familiar
to anybody here eventually we did make
it to the top and we stayed there for 25
years The Oprah Winfrey Show was number
one in our time sought for 21 years and
I have to tell you I became pretty
comfortable with that level of success
but a few years ago I decided as you
will at some point that it was time to
recalculate find new territory break new
ground so I ended the show and launched
own the Oprah Winfrey Network the
initials just worked out for me so one
year later after launching on nearly
every media outlet had proclaimed that
my new venture was a flop not just a
flop but a big bold flop they call it I
can still remember the day I opened up
USA Today and read the headline Oprah
not quite standing on her own I mean
really USA Today now that’s the nice
newspaper
it really was this time last year the
worst period in my professional life I
was stressed and I was frustrated and
quite frankly I was I was actually I was
embarrassed it was right around that
time the president first called and
asked me to speak here and I thought you
want me to speak to Harvard graduates
what I what could I possibly say to
Harvard graduates some of the most
successful graduates in the world in the
very moment when I had stopped
succeeding so I got off the phone with
president vows and I went to the shower
it was either that or a bag of Oreos so
I chose the shower and I was in the
shower a long time and as I was in the
shower the words of an old hymn came to
me you may not know it it’s bye-bye when
the morning comes and I started thinking
about when the morning might come
because at the time I thought I was
stuck in a hole and the words came to me
trouble trouble don’t last always from
met him this too shall pass and I
thought as I got out of the shower I am
gonna turn this thing around and I will
be better for it
and when I do I’m gonna go to Harvard
and I’m gonna speak the truth of it so
I’m here today to tell you I have turned
that Network around
and it was all because I wanted to do it
by the time I got to speak to you all so
thank you so much you don’t know what
motivation you were for me thank you I’m
even prouder to share a fundamental
truth that you might not have learned
even as graduates of Harvard unless you
studied the ancient Greek hero with
Professor Nagy professor Naja as we were
coming in this morning said please Miss
Winfrey walk decisively I shall walk
decisively this is what I want to share
it doesn’t matter how far you might rise
at some point you are bound to stumble
because if you’re constantly doing what
we do raising the bar if you are
constantly pushing yourself higher
higher the law of averages not to
mention the myth of Icarus predicts that
you will at some point fall and when you
do I want you to know this remember this
there is no such thing as failure
failure is just life trying to move us
in another direction now when you’re
down there in a hole it looks like
failure so this past year I had to
spoon-feed those words to myself and
when you’re down in the hole when that
moment comes it’s really okay to feel
bad for a little while give yourself
time to mourn what you think you may
have lost but then here’s the key learn
from every mistake because every
experience encounter and particularly
your mistakes are there to cheat you and
force you into being more of who you are
and then figure out what is the next
right move and the key to life is to
develop an internal moral emotional GPS
that can tell you which way to go
because now and forevermore when you
google yourself
your search results will read javed 2013
and in a very competitive world that
really is a calling card because I can
tell you as one who employs a lot of
people when I see Harvard I sit up a
little straighter and say where is he or
she bring them in it’s an impressive
calling card that can lead to even more
impressive bullets in the years ahead
lawyer senator CEO scientists physicists
winners of Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes or
late-night talk show hosts but the
challenge of life I have found is to
build a resume that doesn’t simply tell
a story about what you want to be but
it’s a story about who you want to be
it’s a resume that doesn’t just tell a
story about what you want to accomplish
but why a story that’s not just a
collection of titles and and positions
but a story that’s really about your
purpose because when you inevitably
stumble and find yourself stuck in a
hole that is the story that will get you
out what is your true calling
what is your Dharma what is your purpose
for me that discovery came in 1994 when
I interviewed a little girl who who had
decided to collect pocket change in
order to help other people in need she
raised a thousand dollars all by herself
and I thought what that little
nine-year-old girl with a bucket and a
big heart to do that I wonder what I
could do so I asked for our viewers to
take up their own change collection and
in one month just from pennies and
nickels and dimes we raised more than
three million dollars that we used to
send one student from every state in the
United States to college that was the
beginning of the
Angel Network and so what I did was I
simply asked our viewers do what you can
wherever you are from wherever you sit
in life give me your time or your talent
your money if you have it and they did
extend yourself and kindness to other
human beings wherever you can and
together we built 55 schools in 12
different countries and restored nearly
300 homes that were devastated by
hurricanes Rita and Katrina so the angel
Network I’ve been on the air for a long
time but it was the angel network that
actually focused my internal GPS it
helped me to decide that I wasn’t just
going to be on TV every day but that the
goal of my shows my interviews my
business my philanthropy all of it
whatever ventures I might pursue would
be to make clear that what unites us is
ultimately far more redeeming and
compelling than anything that separates
me because what it become clear to me
and I want you to know it isn’t always
clear in the beginning because as I said
I’ve been on television since I was 19
years old but around 94 I got really
clear so don’t expect the clarity to
come all at once to know your purpose
right away but what became clear to me
was that I was here on earth to use
television and not be used by it to use
television to illuminate the
transcendent power of our better angels
so this angel Network it didn’t just
change the lives of those who were
helped but the lives of those who also
did the helping it remind us that no
matter who we are or what we look like
or what we may believe it is both
possible and more importantly it becomes
powerful to come together in common
purpose and common effort
I saw something on the bill Moore Show
recently that so reminded me of this
point it was an interview with David and
Francine wheeler
they lost their seven-year-old son Ben
in the Sandy Hook tragedy and even
though gun safety legislation to
strengthen background checks had just
been voted down in Congress at the time
that they were doing this interview they
talked about how they refused to be
discouraged Francine said this she said
our hearts are broken but our spirits
are not I’m gonna tell them what it’s
like to find a conversation about change
that is love and I’m going to do that
without fighting them and then her
husband David added this you simply
cannot demonize or vilify someone who
doesn’t agree with you because the
minute you do that your discussion is
over and we cannot do that any longer
the problem is too enormous there has to
be some way that this darkness can be
banished with light in our political
system and in the media we often see the
reflection of a country that is
polarized that is paralyzed and is
self-interests did and yet I know you
know the truth we all know that we are
better than the citizen and the
pessimism that is regurgitated
throughout Washington and the 24-hour
cable news cycle not my channel by the
way
we understand that the vast majority of
people in this country believe in
stronger background checks because they
realize that we can uphold the Second
Amendment and also reduce the violence
that is robbing us of our children they
don’t have to be incompatible
and we understand that most Americans
believe in a clear path to citizenship
for the 12 million undocumented
immigrants who reside in this country
because it’s possible to both enforce
our laws and at the same time embrace
the words on the Statue of Liberty that
have welcomed generations of huddled
masses to our shores we can do both
and we understand I know you do because
you went to Harvard that people from
both parties and no party believe that
indigent mothers and family should have
access to healthy food and a roof over
their heads and a strong public
education because here in the richest
nation on earth we can afford a basic
level of security and opportunity so the
question is what are we going to do
about it
really what are you gonna do about it
maybe you agree with these beliefs maybe
you don’t maybe you care about these
issues or maybe there are other
challenges that you class of 2013 are
passionate about maybe you want to make
a difference by serving in government
maybe you want to launch your own
television show or maybe you simply want
to collect some change your parents
would appreciate that about now the
point is your generation is charged with
this task of breaking through what the
body politic has thus far made
impervious to change each of you has
been blessed with this enormous
opportunity of attending this
prestigious school you now have a chance
to better your life the lives of your
neighbors and also the life of our
country when you do that let me tell you
what I know for sure that’s when your
story gets really good Maya Angelou
always says when you learn teach when
you get give that my friends is what
gives your story purpose and meaning so
you all have the power in your own way
to develop your own angel Network and in
doing so your class will be armed with
more tools of influence and empowerment
than any other generation in history I
did it in an analog world I was blessed
with a platform that at its height
reached nearly 20 million viewers a day
now here in a world of Twitter and
Facebook and YouTube and tumblr you can
reach billions in just seconds you’re
the generation
that rejected predictions about your
detachment in your disengagement by
showing up to vote in record numbers in
2008 and when the pump that’s when the
pundits said they said they talked about
you they said you’d be too disappointed
you’d be too dejected to repeat that
same kind of turnout into 2012 election
and you proved them wrong by showing up
an even greater numbers that’s who you
are
this generation your generation I know
has developed a finely honed radar for
BS can you say BS at Harvard the spin
and phony nests and artificial nastiness
that saturates so much of our national
debate I know you all understand better
than most that real progress requires
authentic an authentic way of being
honesty and above all empathy I have to
say that the single most important
lesson I learned in 25 years talking
every single day to people was that
there is a common denominator in our
human experience most of us I tell you
we don’t want to be divided what we want
the common denominator that I found in
every single interview is we want to be
validated we want to be understood I’ve
done over 35,000 interviews in my career
and as soon as that camera shuts off
everyone always turns to be and
inevitably in their own way asked this
question what’s that okay I heard it
from President Bush I heard it from
President Obama I’ve heard it from
heroes and from housewives I’ve heard it
from victims and perpetrators of crimes
I even heard it from Beyonce and all of
her Beyonce nests
she finishes performer hands me the
microphone and says what’s that okay
friends and family yours enemies
strangers in every argument in every
encounter every exchange I will tell you
they all want to know one thing was that
okay
did you hear me do you see me did what I
say mean anything to you and even though
this is the college where Facebook was
born my hope is that you would try to go
out and have more face-to-face
conversations with people you may
disagree with
that you’ll have the courage to look
them in the eye and hear their point of
view and help make sure that the speed
and distance and anonymity of our world
doesn’t cause us to lose our ability to
stand in somebody else’s shoes and
recognize all that we share as a people
this is imperative for you as an
individual and for our success as a
nation there has to be some way that
this darkness can be banished with light
says the man whose little boy was
massacred on just an ordinary Friday in
December so whether you call it soul or
spirit or higher self intelligence there
is I know this there’s a light inside
each of you all of us that illuminates
your very human being miss if you let it
and as a young girl from rural
Mississippi I learned long ago that
being myself was much easier than
pretending to be Barbara Walters
although when I first started because I
had Barbara in my head I would try to
sit like Barbara talk like Bob removed
like Barbara and then one night I was on
the news reading the news and I called
Canada Canada and that was the end of me
being Barbara I cracked myself up on TV
couldn’t stop laughing and my real
personality came through and I figured
out oh gee I can be a much better Oprah
than I could be a pretend Barbara I know
that
I know that you all might have a little
anxiety now and hesitation about leaving
the comfort of college and putting those
Harvard credentials to the test but no
matter what challenges or setbacks or
disappointments you may encounter along
the way
you will find true success and happiness
if you have only one goal there really
is only one and that is this to fulfill
the highest most truthful expression of
yourself as a human being you want to
max out your humanity by using your
energy to lift yourself up your family
and the people around you
theologian Howard Thurman said it best
he said don’t ask yourself what the
world needs ask yourself what makes you
come alive and then go do that because
what the world needs is people who have
come alive the world needs people like
Michael stalls and Berg from Fort
Lauderdale when Michael was just 8 years
old
Michael nearly died from a bacterial
infection that cost him both of his
hands and both of his feet and in an
instant this vibrant little boy became a
quadruple amputee and his life was
changed forever
but in losing who he once was Michael
discovered who he wanted to be he
refused to sit in that wheelchair all
day and feel sorry for himself so with
prosthetics he learned to walk and run
and play again he joined his middle
school lacrosse team and last month when
he learned that so many victims of the
Boston Marathon bombing would become new
amputees Michael decided to banish that
darkness with light
Michael and his brother Harris created
Mikey’s run comm to raise 1 million
dollars for other amputees by the time
Harris runs the 2014 Boston Marathon
more than a thousand miles away from
here these two young
Brothers are bringing people together to
support this Boston community the way
their community came together to support
Michael and when this thirteen year old
man was asked about his fellow amputees
he said this first they will be sad
they’re losing something they will never
get back and that’s scary
I was scared but they’ll be okay they
just don’t know that yet we might not
always know it we might not always see
it or hear it on the news or even feel
it in our daily lives but I have faith
that no matter what class of twenty
thousand thirteen you will be okay and
you will make sure our country is okay
I have faith because of that nine year
old girl who went out and collected the
change
I have faith because of David and
Francine wheeler I have faith because of
Michael and Harris Stoltenberg and I
have faith because of you the network of
angels sitting here today one of them
Khadija Williams who came to Harvard
four years ago Khadija had attended 12
schools in 12 years living out of
garbage bags amongst pimps and
prostitutes and drug dealers homeless
going into department stores Walmart in
the morning to bathe herself so that she
wouldn’t smell in front of her
classmates and today she graduates as a
member of the Harvard class of 2013
from time to time you may stumble fall
you will for sure count on this no doubt
you will have questions and you will
have doubts about your path but I know
this if you’re willing to listen to be
guided by that still small voice that is
the GPS within yourself to find out what
makes you come alive you will be more
than okay you will be happy you will be
successful
and you will make a difference in the
world
congratulations class of 2013
congratulations to your family and
friends good luck and thank you for
listening is that okay
you