In this video, Oprah Winfrey speaks to the graduates at Duke University during their 2009 comencement ceremony where her God-Son was one of the graduates. Throughout this speech, Oprah refers to several stories from her life and past television shows with the purpose of giving motivation to the grauduates. In each of her stories lies a moral that she thinks is important for the graduates to grasp before they go out into the world and choose their paths in life.
In the first story that Oprah portrays to the graduates, she speaks of a project where a group of prisoners are given 8 week old puppies to train to be service dogs for injured veterans that return home from Iraq. This project didn't only benefit the veterans, but also the inmates by providing a healing process for them. Her message to the students in this story is, "If you can find a way to give back to others just as these fellons are giving from behing bars, you will be a huge success."
The second story is about a woman who develops a fast spreading flesh eating disease in the hospital just hours after giving birth to her second child. The woman loses both of her arms and both of her legs. She had 37 operations in a two month period, but still maintained the determination to thrive in life for her children. The message that Oprah portrays in this story is, "What good are you graduates to anyone if you are miserable. You are in control of your happiness; you are responsible for the energy that you bring to the things you do in life."
She then tells the students that she loves doing make-overs for people in need on her show. She relays that her favorite part of the make-over's that she does, is not just the way that it transforms the way people look on the outside, but how they feel about themselves on the inside. She tells the students that "If you can see the possibility of change in your life; see what you can become and not just what you are, then you will become a huge success."
Oprah accounts for her time spent with Nelson Mandela and how he was able to emerge from many years of inprisonment with forgivesness and humbleness. She says to the students, "If you can proceed through life with just a portion of Nelson Mandela's humility, you will be a great success."
Another story that Oprah offers the students, is a memory from her childhood of a woman named Tish Hooker who came up to her after church one day and offered her words that made her feel pretty for the first time. In this story her message to the students is, "If you can be generous enough to say kind words to those who long to hear them, then you will be a huge success."
She speaks of a charity sale in which she is selling items that she no longer needs, and how a women that came to her sale bought a pair of size 10 1/2 black shoes from her when she clearly only had a size 7 shoe size. The woman told Oprah, that every time she went through a hard time or got depressed, she would stand in Oprahs shoes. It was a sense of inspiration that the woman used for herself, and she later went on to go back to college and earn her degree at age 50. Oprah tells the students that "Although it is very nice to live an elaborate lifestyle, you can't reach total success unless you can help someone else move forward and move to higher ground."
Lastly, Oprah tells a story of how she came to the decision to pull an episode of her show about Columbine from airing. She had a bad feeling in her gut that she had brought bad energy to the segment of the show, and she didn't want to be responsible for that. She expressed that everyday we face decisions that require us to decide who we are and what the right thing is to do. She said to the students, "Trust your gut to help you stand proudly in your own shoes; to help others to stand in theirs, and I know you'll be a huge success."
I was impressed by the speech that Oprah gave at her God-Sons commencement ceremony at Duke University, and I was suprised to learn that Oprah herself had received an honorary doctorate degree from Duke University. She speaks of her stories from the heart and with conviction to the students. Through these stories, she opened up doors of thought for them about different philosophies, and possiblities in life. Though I'm familiar with who Oprah is through the media, I've never watched one of her shows. I was pleasently suprised though with the messages of inspiration that she offered to the students through her speech.
In the first story that Oprah portrays to the graduates, she speaks of a project where a group of prisoners are given 8 week old puppies to train to be service dogs for injured veterans that return home from Iraq. This project didn't only benefit the veterans, but also the inmates by providing a healing process for them. Her message to the students in this story is, "If you can find a way to give back to others just as these fellons are giving from behing bars, you will be a huge success."
The second story is about a woman who develops a fast spreading flesh eating disease in the hospital just hours after giving birth to her second child. The woman loses both of her arms and both of her legs. She had 37 operations in a two month period, but still maintained the determination to thrive in life for her children. The message that Oprah portrays in this story is, "What good are you graduates to anyone if you are miserable. You are in control of your happiness; you are responsible for the energy that you bring to the things you do in life."
She then tells the students that she loves doing make-overs for people in need on her show. She relays that her favorite part of the make-over's that she does, is not just the way that it transforms the way people look on the outside, but how they feel about themselves on the inside. She tells the students that "If you can see the possibility of change in your life; see what you can become and not just what you are, then you will become a huge success."
Oprah accounts for her time spent with Nelson Mandela and how he was able to emerge from many years of inprisonment with forgivesness and humbleness. She says to the students, "If you can proceed through life with just a portion of Nelson Mandela's humility, you will be a great success."
Another story that Oprah offers the students, is a memory from her childhood of a woman named Tish Hooker who came up to her after church one day and offered her words that made her feel pretty for the first time. In this story her message to the students is, "If you can be generous enough to say kind words to those who long to hear them, then you will be a huge success."
She speaks of a charity sale in which she is selling items that she no longer needs, and how a women that came to her sale bought a pair of size 10 1/2 black shoes from her when she clearly only had a size 7 shoe size. The woman told Oprah, that every time she went through a hard time or got depressed, she would stand in Oprahs shoes. It was a sense of inspiration that the woman used for herself, and she later went on to go back to college and earn her degree at age 50. Oprah tells the students that "Although it is very nice to live an elaborate lifestyle, you can't reach total success unless you can help someone else move forward and move to higher ground."
Lastly, Oprah tells a story of how she came to the decision to pull an episode of her show about Columbine from airing. She had a bad feeling in her gut that she had brought bad energy to the segment of the show, and she didn't want to be responsible for that. She expressed that everyday we face decisions that require us to decide who we are and what the right thing is to do. She said to the students, "Trust your gut to help you stand proudly in your own shoes; to help others to stand in theirs, and I know you'll be a huge success."
I was impressed by the speech that Oprah gave at her God-Sons commencement ceremony at Duke University, and I was suprised to learn that Oprah herself had received an honorary doctorate degree from Duke University. She speaks of her stories from the heart and with conviction to the students. Through these stories, she opened up doors of thought for them about different philosophies, and possiblities in life. Though I'm familiar with who Oprah is through the media, I've never watched one of her shows. I was pleasently suprised though with the messages of inspiration that she offered to the students through her speech.
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