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发表于 2018-5-26 00:31:34
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The question is: What are you willing to stand for? That question is going
to follow you throughout your life. And here’s how you answer it. You put your
honor where your mouth is. Put your honor where your mouth is. When you give
your word, keep it. Show up. Do the work. Get your hands dirty. And then you’ll
begin to draw strength from the understanding that history is still being
written. You’re writing it every day. The wheels still in spin. And what you do
or what you don’t do will be a part of it. You build a legacy not from one thing
but from everything. I remember when I just opened my school in 2007, I came
back and I had the great joy of sitting at Maya Angelou’s table. She hadn’t been
able to attend the opening in South Africa. And I said to her, “Oh Maya, the
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, that’s going to be my greatest legacy.” I
remember she was standing at the counter making biscuits, and she turned, she
put the dough down, and she looked at me and she said, “You have no idea what
your legacy will be.” I said, “Excuse me? I just opened this school and these
girls, and it’s going to be… ” And she said, “You have no idea what your legacy
will be, because your legacy is every life you touch. Every life you touch.”
That changed me.
And it’s true, you can’t personally stop anybody from walking into a school
with an assault rifle, nor can you singlehandedly ensure that the rights that
your mothers and grandmothers fought so hard for will be preserved for the
daughters you may someday have. And it’ll take more than you alone to pull more
than 40 million Americans out of poverty, but who will you be if you don’t care
enough to try? And what mountains could we move, I think, what gridlock could we
eradicate if we were to join forces and work together in service of something
greater than ourselves? You know my deepest satisfactions and my biggest rewards
have come from exactly that. Pick a problem, any problem, and do something about
it. Because to somebody who’s hurting, something is everything. So, I hesitate
to say this, because the rumors from my last big speech have finally died down,
but here it is. Vote. Vote. Vote. Pay attention to what the people who claim to
represent you are doing and saying in your name and on your behalf. They
represent you and if they’ve not done right by you or if their policies are at
odds with your core beliefs, then you have a responsibility to send them
packing. If they go low, thank you Michelle Obama, if they go low, we go to the
polls. People died for that right, they died for that right. I think about it
every time I vote. So don’t let their sacrifices be in vain.
A couple other thoughts before I go. Eat a good breakfast. It really pays
off. Pay your bills on time. Recycle. Make your bed. Aim high. Say thank you to
people and actually really mean it. Ask for help when you need it, and put your
phone away at the dinner table. Just sit on it, really. And know that what you
tweet and post and Instagram today might be asked about at a job interview
tomorrow, or 20 years from tomorrow. Be nice to little kids, be nice to your
elders, be nice to animals, and know that it’s better to be interested than
interesting. Invest in a quality mattress. I’m telling you, your back will thank
you later. And don’t cheap out on your shoes. And if you’re fighting with
somebody you really love, for god’s sakes find your way back to them because
life is short, even on our longest days. And another thing, another thing you
already definitely know that definitely bears repeating, don’t ever confuse what
is legal with what is moral because they are entirely different animals. You
see, in a court of law, there are loopholes and technicalities and bargains to
be struck, but in life, you’re either principled or you’re not. So do the right
thing, especially when nobody’s looking. And while I’m at it, do not equate
money and fame with accomplishment and character, because I can assure you based
on the thousands of people I’ve interviewed, one does not automatically follow
the other.
Something else, something else. You need to know this. Your job is not
always going to fulfill you. There will be some days that you just might be
bored. Other days, you may not feel like going to work at all. Go anyway, and
remember that your job is not who you are, it’s just what you are doing on the
way to who you will become. Every remedial chore, every boss who takes credit
for your ideas -- that is going to happen -- look for the lessons, because the
lessons are always there. And the number one lesson I could offer you where your
work is concerned is this: Become so skilled, so vigilant, so flat-out fantastic
at what you do that your talent cannot be dismissed.
And finally, this: This will save you. Stop comparing yourself to other
people. You’re only on this planet to be you, not someone else’s imitation of
you. I had to learn that the hard way, on the air, live, anchoring the news. One
night in my twenties, when I first started broadcasting, I was 19, moved to an
anchor by the time I was 20. I was just pretending to be Barbara Walters. I was
trying to talk like Barbara, act like Barbara, hold my legs like Barbara. And I
was on the air, I hadn’t read the copy fully, and I called Canada, Canahdah. I
cracked myself up, because I thought, Barbara would never call Canada Canahdah.
And that little breakthrough, that little crack, that little moment that I
stopped pretending allowed the real me to come through. Your life journey is
about learning to become more of who you are and fulfilling the highest, truest
expression of yourself as a human being. That’s why you’re here. You will do
that through your work and your art, through your relationships and love.
And to quote Albert Einstein, “Education is what remains after we forget
what we’re taught.” You’ve learned a lot here at USC. And when all that you’ve
been taught begins to fade into the fabric of your life, I hope that what
remains is your ability to analyze, to make distinctions, to be creative, and to
wander down that road less traveled whenever you have the opportunity. And I
hope that when you go, you go all in, and that your education helps you to walk
that road with an open, discerning mind. Discernment is what we’re missing. And
a kind heart. You know, there are 7 billion people on the planet right now. And
here you are. Your degree from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and
Journalism: This degree you’re about to get is a privilege. It’s a privilege.
And that privilege obligates you to use what you’ve learned to lend a hand to
somebody who doesn’t get to be here. Somebody who’s never had a ceremony like
the one you’re having this morning.
So I hold you in the light, and I wish you curiosity and confidence. And I
wish you ethics and enlightenment. I wish you guts. Every great decision I’ve
ever made I trusted my gut. And goodness. I wish you purpose and the passion
that goes along with that purpose. And here’s what I really hope: I hope that
every one of you contributes to the conversation of our culture and our time.
And to some genuine communication, which means, you have to connect to people
exactly where they are; not where you are, but where they are. And I hope you
shake things up. And when the time comes to bet on yourself, I hope you double
down. Bet on yourself. I hope you always know how happy and how incredibly
relieved everybody is in this room is that you’ve made it to this place, at this
time, on this gorgeous day. Congratulations USC Annenberg Class of 2018! |
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