奥普拉在2013哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲

　　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're constantly pushing yourself higher, higher the law of averages not tomention the Myth of Icarus predicts that you will at some point fall. And when you do I wantyou to know this, remember this: there is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying tomove us in another direction. Now when you're down there in the hole, it looks like failure. Sothis 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 tomourn what you think you may have lost but then here's the key, learn from every mistakebecause every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach youand force you into being more 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 G.P.S. that can tell you which wayto go. Because now and forever more when you Google yourself your search results will read"Harvard, 2013". And in a very competitive world that really is a calling card because I can tellyou 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 moreimpressive bullets in the years ahead: lawyer, senator, C.E.O., scientist, physicist, winners ofNobel and Pulitzer Prizes or late night talk show host. But the challenge of life I have found isto build a resume that doesn't simply tell a story about what you want to be but it's a storyabout who you want to be. It's a resume that doesn't just tell a story about what you want toaccomplish but why. A story that's not just a collection of titles and positions but a storythat's really about your purpose. Because when you inevitably stumble and find yourself stuckin 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 whohad decided to collect pocket change in order to help other people in need. She raised athousand dollars all by herself and I thought well if that little 9 year old girl with a bucket andbig heart could do that I wonder what I could do? So I asked for our viewers to take up theirown change collection and in one month just from pennies and nickels and dimes we raisedmore than three million dollars that we used to send one student from every state in the UnitedStates 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, fromwherever you sit in life. Give me your time or your talent your money if you have it." And theydid. Extend yourself in kindness to other human beings wherever you can. And together webuilt 55 schools in 12 different countries and restored nearly 300 homes that were devastatedby hurricanes Rita and Katrina. So the Angel Network I have been on the air for a long time, butit was the Angel Network that actually focused my internal G.P.S. It helped me to decide that Iwasn't going to just be on TV every day but that the goal of my shows, my interviews, mybusiness, my philanthropy all of it, whatever ventures I might pursue would be to make clearthat what unites us is ultimately far more redeeming and compelling than anything thatseparates me. Because what had become clear to me and I want you to know it isn't alwaysclear in the beginning because as I said I had been on television since I was 19 years old. Butaround '94 I got really clear. So don't expect the clarity to come all at once to know yourpurpose right away, but what became clear to me was that I was here on earth to use televisionand not be used by it; to use television to illuminate the transcendent power of our betterangels. So this Angel Network, it didn't just change the lives of those who were helped, but thelives of those who also did the helping. It reminded us that no matter who we are or what welook like or what we may believe it is both possible and more importantly it becomes powerful tocome together in common purpose and common effort. I saw something on the Bill Moore Showrecently that so reminded me of this point. It was an interview with David and FrancineWheeler. They lost their 7 year old son, Ben in the Sandy Hook tragedy. And even though gunsafety legislation to strengthen background checks had just been voted down in Congress atthe time that they were doing this interview they talked about how they refused to bediscouraged. Francine said this, she said "Our hearts are broken but our spirits are not. I'mgoing to tell them what it's like to find a conversation about change that is love, and I'm goingto do that without fighting them." And then her husband David added this, "You simply cannotdemonize or vilify someone who doesn't agree with you, because the minute you do that, yourdiscussion is over. And we cannot do that any longer. The problem is too enormous. Therehas to be some way that this darkness can be banished with light." In our political system andin the media we often see the reflection of a country that is polarized, that is paralyzed and isself-interested. And yet, I know you know the truth. We all know that we are better than thecynicism and the pessimism that is regurgitated throughout Washington and the 24-hourcable news cycle. Not my channel, by the way. We understand that the vast majority ofpeople in this country believe in stronger background checks because they realize that we canuphold the Second Amendment and also reduce the violence that is robbing us of ourchildren. They don't have to be incompatible.