[Music]
the three things that I want to leave
with you
just these three I could do ten I could
do a whole life class but just these
three things will carry you if you let
them
knowing who you are being able to answer
this question Who am I and what do I
want you know many times when I go out
of the country I am baffled by that
question to explain what is your
occupation I’ve stood there for 10
minutes well a my talk show host well
I’m willing to talk show host and my
business woman I’m business my my more
in a businesswoman my entrepreneur I’m
more than engineer so I just leave it
blank or self-employed so I’m not asking
for the roles that you play as daughters
of not asking that question one of the
roles that you play as a daughter as a
friend as a sister you’re gonna be a
lawyer you’re gonna teach you’re gonna
be a pharmacist I’m asking the bigger
question
of Who am I Who am I really
my answer is I am God’s child I am I am
that which is born of all that is I am
as PA de Chardin said a spiritual being
having a human experience come trailing
the breath of the ancestors yet but
trailing the breath of the angels and
understanding that because I am
connected to the source of all that is
all that is possible is possible for me
that’s who I am
and what do I want I don’t want to just
be successful in the world I don’t want
to just make a mark or have a legacy the
answer to that question for me is I want
to fulfill the highest truest expression
of myself as a human being I want to
fulfill the promise that the Creator
dreamed when he dreamed the cells that
made up me what I want you must have
some kind of vision for your life even
if you don’t know the plan you have to
have a direction in which you choose to
go I never was the kind of woman who
liked to get in a car and just go for a
ride I had a boyfriend would say let’s
just go for a ride I want to know where
are we going do we have a destination is
there a plan or we just ride what I’ve
learned is that’s a great metaphor for
life you want to be in the driver’s seat
of your own life because if you’re not
life will drive you
so knowing who you really are in this
space and time that we embody that’s
number one what do you want who are you
Martin Luther King said that not
everybody can be famous but everybody
can be great because greatness is
determined by service now we live in a
world where everybody wants to be famous
and where we admire people for just
being famous we think being known brings
us value the truth is all of that will
fade in time in three years you won’t be
able to name the Housewives a banana the
real truth is that service and
significance service and the
significance that you bring to your
service is that which is lasting so to
be able to whatever your occupation or
job or talent or gift is our honorees
today getting doctor degrees to
apparently opposite fields HIV and AIDS
and the spoken word but what they have
in common is service using the spoken
word in service to community in the
world using your knowledge and
information about HIV and AIDS and
medicine in service to the world and if
you look at all the most successful
people in the world whether they know it
or not they have that paradigm of
service everybody’s talking about Mark
Zuckerberg and I appeal
service JZ rapid service through the
word to people through song for many
years I was really just happy to be on
TV and people would stop and say oh you
on TV yeah I’m on TV I like being on TV
it’s a nice job and it was about the
time that I received my honorary
Doctorate from Spelman around 1993 so I
don’t know if that had something to do
with it I thought of myself as dr.
Winfrey then I went back and I took the
long look at what it was I was doing on
on TV and made a decision that I was no
longer going to just be on TV but I was
going to use TV as a platform as a force
for good and not be used by TV and I
will tell you my decision to make that
significant change in the way I operated
on television using television as a
service changed my career exponentially
service through medicine service through
art using whatever it is you produce
your product as a way of giving back to
the world when you shift the paradigm of
whatever it is you choose to do to
service and you bring significance to
that success
will I promise you follow you service
and significance equals success that’s
number two number three it’s so simple
but so hard to do always do the right
thing
always
[Applause]
be excellent people notice think of how
you notice you go to Taco Bell somebody
gives you extra napkin and some sauce
you notice you want to go back to that
person because even at Taco Bell
excellence shows itself be excellent let
excellence be your brand
everybody talks about building a brand I
never even knew what that was when
people say you’re a brand I would say no
I’m just Oprah what I recognize now is
that my choice to it every way in every
example and every experience to do the
right thing and the excellent thing is
what has created the brand years ago I
did an ad for Revlon for for an ad they
were doing called unforgettable women
and what I know is that when you are
excellent you become unforgettable
people remember you you stand out we got
us of what it is you become an
unforgettable woman and that is what we
all want we want to be unforgettable and
not forgettable so doing the right thing
even
when nobody knows you’re doing the right
thing
we’ll always bring the right thing to
you I promise you that
why because the third law of motion is
always at work for every action there’s
an equal and opposite reaction that is
so true in all of our lives
that’s what Newton said sealian the
color purple said it everything you even
try to do to me already done to you
[Applause]
everything you even try to do to me
already done to you so you don’t have to
worry about revenge or getting back at
somebody making sure they pay you just
have to do the right thing and the right
thing will follow you even when people
don’t support it I remember many times
on my show there are many shows y’all
never saw and the reason you didn’t see
them is because I got the last vote
and I remember 2010 my team hardest
working team in television had done this
interview with a woman who turns out she
was a Sunday school teacher by day and a
sex addict at night whoo
they were like you won’t believe it
we got her going out we got her with the
men and we get to show her and she was
willing to show us everything I sat down
with a woman
for an interview that was taped and
during the process of the interview I
said why are you doing this and she said
oh I want to help the people I want to
tell my story and I want to help people
I said do you have children she says yes
I have a ten-year-old son I knew right
then this is never gonna see the light
of day so we got off the air and I said
to the lady we are not going to air that
show and she said why my producer said
why she knew she was being filmed she
knew what she was saying she knows what
you I said because her son will never
get over it
her son will never get over it and it’s
not worth a rating point to me not worth
the rating point to me to know that
there’s a ten-year-old boy who’s
destroyed because his mother went on The
Oprah Winfrey Show and told all her
business you do the right thing even
when other people think it may not be
and oftentimes when you make a decision
to do the right thing immediately you’re
faced with doubt was that the right
thing was that the right decision I
don’t know was that the right thing you
always know it’s the right thing when in
the end there is peace you are rewarded
by peace and knowing that you did the
right thing the most important thing I
have come to know in doing the right
understanding what we talked about
yesterday all of you leaving here have
the potential for enormous success
there’s a price that comes with that
people don’t always like you
and they’re not always happy for you and
if you surround yourself with people who
are not accustom to your success they
become fearful they become scared
because you are reflecting back
something to them but they don’t
recognize now they’re not going to say
you know I’m very fearful because you’re
reflecting back to me something I don’t
recognize they’re going to say you know
what they’re gonna say they’re gonna say
who she thinks she is
who’s she thinks she is that only
happens when you are around people who
do not mean and want and aspire to the
best for you people who want the best
for you want you to be your best so my
greatest advice to you is to surround
yourself with people who are going to
fill your cup until your cup runneth
over so when people say you’re so full
of yourself you can say yeah yes I’m
full I’m so full my cup runneth over and
to know that once your cup runneth over
you cannot spend your life with your
gallon-sized offerings offering them to
pint-sized people
you have got to surround yourself with
gallon-sized people who can hang in the
same company with you so that you’re not
offering your Gallants to those little
pipes out there who can’t hold it anyway
choice to change the world I love that
song I love hearing you all sing that
song and what I know for sure is that
the biggest choices begin and end with
you
your internal big questions who do I
want to be in the world my relationship
to Source Energy to all that is God I’m
not talking about what you believe in
God I’m talking about your experience of
that which is all life which is divine
and universal I’m talking about the big
deal being connected and aligned with
that when you are tuned in and charged
into that whenever you feel empty you go
inside yourself and you connect to the
source and you know that all things are
possible to know that and to choose to
do the right thing in service and
significance I promise you you will
create a vessel of service for yourself
first because you have to honor yourself
first you have to give to yourself first
otherwise you have nothing to give away
you will create a vessel for yourself
for your family your community and the
world and those three things
will not only lead you to a blessed life
I stand as a witness my life is so
blessed I can’t even take it in
sometimes it will lead you not just to a
gifted life and a rewarding life that
fills you up but a sweet life that’s
what you want you want the sweetness you
want it to be so sweet so that even when
the storms come and they will you’ll
know this too shall pass
this too shall pass the storm is passing
over and you shall not be moved because
you know who you are when you can do
that
grace will follow you grace and glory
and when they see you coming it ought to
make them proud they say it’s the click
of your heels
it’s the bend of your hair it’s the palm
of your hand it’s a need for your care
phenomenally phenomenall class of 2012 thank you
the three things that I want to leave
with you
just these three I could do ten I could
do a whole life class but just these
three things will carry you if you let
them
knowing who you are being able to answer
this question Who am I and what do I
want you know many times when I go out
of the country I am baffled by that
question to explain what is your
occupation I’ve stood there for 10
minutes well a my talk show host well
I’m willing to talk show host and my
business woman I’m business my my more
in a businesswoman my entrepreneur I’m
more than engineer so I just leave it
blank or self-employed so I’m not asking
for the roles that you play as daughters
of not asking that question one of the
roles that you play as a daughter as a
friend as a sister you’re gonna be a
lawyer you’re gonna teach you’re gonna
be a pharmacist I’m asking the bigger
question
of Who am I Who am I really
my answer is I am God’s child I am I am
that which is born of all that is I am
as PA de Chardin said a spiritual being
having a human experience come trailing
the breath of the ancestors yet but
trailing the breath of the angels and
understanding that because I am
connected to the source of all that is
all that is possible is possible for me
that’s who I am
and what do I want I don’t want to just
be successful in the world I don’t want
to just make a mark or have a legacy the
answer to that question for me is I want
to fulfill the highest truest expression
of myself as a human being I want to
fulfill the promise that the Creator
dreamed when he dreamed the cells that
made up me what I want you must have
some kind of vision for your life even
if you don’t know the plan you have to
have a direction in which you choose to
go I never was the kind of woman who
liked to get in a car and just go for a
ride I had a boyfriend would say let’s
just go for a ride I want to know where
are we going do we have a destination is
there a plan or we just ride what I’ve
learned is that’s a great metaphor for
life you want to be in the driver’s seat
of your own life because if you’re not
life will drive you
so knowing who you really are in this
space and time that we embody that’s
number one what do you want who are you
Martin Luther King said that not
everybody can be famous but everybody
can be great because greatness is
determined by service now we live in a
world where everybody wants to be famous
and where we admire people for just
being famous we think being known brings
us value the truth is all of that will
fade in time in three years you won’t be
able to name the Housewives a banana the
real truth is that service and
significance service and the
significance that you bring to your
service is that which is lasting so to
be able to whatever your occupation or
job or talent or gift is our honorees
today getting doctor degrees to
apparently opposite fields HIV and AIDS
and the spoken word but what they have
in common is service using the spoken
word in service to community in the
world using your knowledge and
information about HIV and AIDS and
medicine in service to the world and if
you look at all the most successful
people in the world whether they know it
or not they have that paradigm of
service everybody’s talking about Mark
Zuckerberg and I appeal
service JZ rapid service through the
word to people through song for many
years I was really just happy to be on
TV and people would stop and say oh you
on TV yeah I’m on TV I like being on TV
it’s a nice job and it was about the
time that I received my honorary
Doctorate from Spelman around 1993 so I
don’t know if that had something to do
with it I thought of myself as dr.
Winfrey then I went back and I took the
long look at what it was I was doing on
on TV and made a decision that I was no
longer going to just be on TV but I was
going to use TV as a platform as a force
for good and not be used by TV and I
will tell you my decision to make that
significant change in the way I operated
on television using television as a
service changed my career exponentially
service through medicine service through
art using whatever it is you produce
your product as a way of giving back to
the world when you shift the paradigm of
whatever it is you choose to do to
service and you bring significance to
that success
will I promise you follow you service
and significance equals success that’s
number two number three it’s so simple
but so hard to do always do the right
thing
always
[Applause]
be excellent people notice think of how
you notice you go to Taco Bell somebody
gives you extra napkin and some sauce
you notice you want to go back to that
person because even at Taco Bell
excellence shows itself be excellent let
excellence be your brand
everybody talks about building a brand I
never even knew what that was when
people say you’re a brand I would say no
I’m just Oprah what I recognize now is
that my choice to it every way in every
example and every experience to do the
right thing and the excellent thing is
what has created the brand years ago I
did an ad for Revlon for for an ad they
were doing called unforgettable women
and what I know is that when you are
excellent you become unforgettable
people remember you you stand out we got
us of what it is you become an
unforgettable woman and that is what we
all want we want to be unforgettable and
not forgettable so doing the right thing
even
when nobody knows you’re doing the right
thing
we’ll always bring the right thing to
you I promise you that
why because the third law of motion is
always at work for every action there’s
an equal and opposite reaction that is
so true in all of our lives
that’s what Newton said sealian the
color purple said it everything you even
try to do to me already done to you
[Applause]
everything you even try to do to me
already done to you so you don’t have to
worry about revenge or getting back at
somebody making sure they pay you just
have to do the right thing and the right
thing will follow you even when people
don’t support it I remember many times
on my show there are many shows y’all
never saw and the reason you didn’t see
them is because I got the last vote
and I remember 2010 my team hardest
working team in television had done this
interview with a woman who turns out she
was a Sunday school teacher by day and a
sex addict at night whoo
they were like you won’t believe it
we got her going out we got her with the
men and we get to show her and she was
willing to show us everything I sat down
with a woman
for an interview that was taped and
during the process of the interview I
said why are you doing this and she said
oh I want to help the people I want to
tell my story and I want to help people
I said do you have children she says yes
I have a ten-year-old son I knew right
then this is never gonna see the light
of day so we got off the air and I said
to the lady we are not going to air that
show and she said why my producer said
why she knew she was being filmed she
knew what she was saying she knows what
you I said because her son will never
get over it
her son will never get over it and it’s
not worth a rating point to me not worth
the rating point to me to know that
there’s a ten-year-old boy who’s
destroyed because his mother went on The
Oprah Winfrey Show and told all her
business you do the right thing even
when other people think it may not be
and oftentimes when you make a decision
to do the right thing immediately you’re
faced with doubt was that the right
thing was that the right decision I
don’t know was that the right thing you
always know it’s the right thing when in
the end there is peace you are rewarded
by peace and knowing that you did the
right thing the most important thing I
have come to know in doing the right
understanding what we talked about
yesterday all of you leaving here have
the potential for enormous success
there’s a price that comes with that
people don’t always like you
and they’re not always happy for you and
if you surround yourself with people who
are not accustom to your success they
become fearful they become scared
because you are reflecting back
something to them but they don’t
recognize now they’re not going to say
you know I’m very fearful because you’re
reflecting back to me something I don’t
recognize they’re going to say you know
what they’re gonna say they’re gonna say
who she thinks she is
who’s she thinks she is that only
happens when you are around people who
do not mean and want and aspire to the
best for you people who want the best
for you want you to be your best so my
greatest advice to you is to surround
yourself with people who are going to
fill your cup until your cup runneth
over so when people say you’re so full
of yourself you can say yeah yes I’m
full I’m so full my cup runneth over and
to know that once your cup runneth over
you cannot spend your life with your
gallon-sized offerings offering them to
pint-sized people
you have got to surround yourself with
gallon-sized people who can hang in the
same company with you so that you’re not
offering your Gallants to those little
pipes out there who can’t hold it anyway
choice to change the world I love that
song I love hearing you all sing that
song and what I know for sure is that
the biggest choices begin and end with
you
your internal big questions who do I
want to be in the world my relationship
to Source Energy to all that is God I’m
not talking about what you believe in
God I’m talking about your experience of
that which is all life which is divine
and universal I’m talking about the big
deal being connected and aligned with
that when you are tuned in and charged
into that whenever you feel empty you go
inside yourself and you connect to the
source and you know that all things are
possible to know that and to choose to
do the right thing in service and
significance I promise you you will
create a vessel of service for yourself
first because you have to honor yourself
first you have to give to yourself first
otherwise you have nothing to give away
you will create a vessel for yourself
for your family your community and the
world and those three things
will not only lead you to a blessed life
I stand as a witness my life is so
blessed I can’t even take it in
sometimes it will lead you not just to a
gifted life and a rewarding life that
fills you up but a sweet life that’s
what you want you want the sweetness you
want it to be so sweet so that even when
the storms come and they will you’ll
know this too shall pass
this too shall pass the storm is passing
over and you shall not be moved because
you know who you are when you can do
that
grace will follow you grace and glory
and when they see you coming it ought to
make them proud they say it’s the click
of your heels
it’s the bend of your hair it’s the palm
of your hand it’s a need for your care
phenomenally phenomenall class of 2012 thank you
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