奥普拉在2013哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲

　　And we understand that most Americans believe in a clear path to citizenship for the12,000,000 undocumented immigrants who reside in this country because it's possible to bothenforce our laws and at the same time embrace the words on the Statue of Liberty that havewelcomed generations of huddled masses to our shores. We can do both.

　　And we understand. I know you do because you went to Harvard. There are people from bothparties and no party believe that indigent mothers and families should have access to healthyfood and a roof over their heads and a strong public education because here in the richestnation on earth we can afford a basic level of security and opportunity. So the question iswhat are we going to do about it? Really what are you going to do about it? Maybe you agreewith these beliefs. Maybe you don't. Maybe you care about these issues and maybe there areother challenges that you, class of 2013, are passionate about. Maybe you want to make adifference by serving in government. Maybe you want to launch your own television show. Ormaybe you simply want to collect some change. Your parents would appreciate that aboutnow. The point is your generation is charged with this task of breaking through what the bodypolitic has thus far made impervious to change. Each of you has been blessed with thisenormous opportunity of attending this prestigious school. You now have a chance to betteryour life, the lives of your neighbors and also the life of our country. When you do that let metell you what I know for sure. That's when your story gets really good. Maya Angelou alwayssays "When you learn, teach. When you get, give. That my friends is what gives your storypurpose and meaning." So you all have the power in your own way to develop your own AngelNetwork and in doing so your class will be armed with more tools of influence and empowermentthan any other generation in history. I did it in an analog world. I was blessed with a platformthat at its height reached nearly 20,000,000 viewers a day. Now here in a world of Twitter andFacebook and YouTube and Tumbler, you can reach billions in just seconds. You're thegeneration that rejected predictions about your detachment and your disengagement byshowing up to vote in record numbers in 2008. And when the pundits said they said they talkedabout you, they said you'd be too disappointed, you'd be too dejected to repeat that samekind of turnout in 2012 election and you proved them wrong by showing up in even greaternumbers. That's who you are.

　　This generation your generation I know has developed a finely honed radar for B.S. Can yousay "B.S." at Harvard? The spin and phoniness and artificial nastiness that saturates so muchof our national debate. I know you all understand better than most that real progressrequires authentic- an authentic way of being, honesty, and above all empathy. I have tosay that the single most important lesson I learned in 25 years talking every single day topeople was that there is a common denominator in our human experience. Most of us I tell youwe don't want to be divided. What we want, the common denominator that I found in everysingle interview, is we want to be validated. We want to be understood. I have done over35,000 interviews in my career and as soon as that camera shuts off everyone always turns tome and inevitably in their own way asks this question "Was that okay?" I heard it fromPresident Bush, I heard it from President Obama. I've heard it from heroes and fromhousewives. I've heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. I even heard it from Beyonceand all of her Beyonceness. She finishes performing, hands me the microphone and says "Wasthat okay?" Friends and family, yours, enemies, strangers in every argument in everyencounter, every exchange I will tell you they all want to know one thing: was that okay? Didyou hear me? Do you see me? Did what I say mean anything to you? And even though this is acollege 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 makesure that the speed and distance and anonymity of our world doesn't cause us to lose ourability to stand in somebody else's shoes and recognize all that we share as a people. This isimperative for you as an individual and for our success as a nation. "There has to be some waythat this darkness can be banished with light," says the man whose little boy was massacred onjust an ordinary Friday in December. So whether you call it soul or spirit or higher self,intelligence, there is I know this, there is a light inside each of you all of us that illuminatesyour very human beingness if you let it. And as a young girl from rural Mississippi I learnedlong ago that being myself was much easier than pretending to be Barbara Walters. Althoughwhen I first started because I had Barbara in my head I would try to sit like Barbara, talk likeBarbara, move like Barbara and then one night I was on the news reading the news and I calledCanada Can-a-da, 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 bea much better Oprah than I could be a pretend Barbara.

　　I know that you all might have a little anxiety now and hesitation about leaving the comfort ofcollege and putting those Harvard credentials to the test. But no matter what challenges orsetbacks or disappointments you may encounter along the way you will find true success andhappiness if you have only one goal, there really is only one and that is this: to fulfill the highestmost truthful expression of yourself as a human being. You want to max out your humanityby using your energy to lift yourself up, your family and the people around you. TheologianHoward Thurman said it best. He said "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourselfwhat makes you come alive and then go do that because what the world needs is people whohave come alive." The world needs-