Oprah Show Finale Part 3

Oprah Show Finale Part 3

Here we are in our last hour of the Oprah Show. This one’s for you my friends. Courtney310 posted on May 13^th at 10pm. “I’ve been watching your show for the whole 25 years. When the countdown started for the final shows I was in denial. And though I am sad to see it end, I take with me my gratitude journal, my aha moments and most importantly, my sense of self that I dug deep to find because of you.” I have to say there is no higher compliment you all could pay me. And I thank you for the hours that you’ve shared with me. We’ve learned a lot and we’ve had our share of hoopla. Wooo have we ever. (CUT TO CLIPS)I put myself in all kinds of contraptions. Rode in on a poopin elephant, propelled at Marine boot camp, and swung from a rope, and woke up my neighbors. The only thing I haven’t done is jump from a plane, which I  uh my team has been asking me to do every year and I uh know that if we had gone 26 seasons I probably would’ve caved. What amazes me when I look back at the volume of 4,561 shows is not just that you did this, but the, the, variety and the complexity of the things that we did.

(CLIPS)

 You know one day we’re L.O.L’n with Chris Rock, and the next day we’re at Walter Reed spending time with soldiers who’ve lost their limbs, and the day after that we’re sitting with an entire family of heroin addicts. I learned from the guests on this show, no need to feel superior to anybody because whether it’s heroin addiction, or gambling addiction, or shopping addiction, or food addiction, work addiction—the root is all the same.  This show has taught me there is a common thread that runs through all of our pain and all of our suffering and that is unworthiness, not feeling worthy enough to own the life you are created for. Even people who believe they deserve to be happy and have nice things, often don’t feel worthy once they have them. There is a difference you know, between thinking you deserve to be happy, and knowing that you are worthy of happiness.  That never became clearer to me than this year in a moment I shared with Iyanla Vanzant, an expert who had been a regular on our show, twelve years ago, and we were trying to develop a show for her, for her own show. She left to do a show with somebody else and we hadn’t spoken since.

 (CUT TO: Clip of Oprah and Iyanla)

                Iyanla: I just wanted you to say you liked me and you never did.

(Moans from the audience.)

Oprah: But I, I, I will say that is absolutely…I will not accept that. I will not accept that as…as, as, where I was in my heart because I, I, had offered…Not only did I like you. I would leave the stage, and give you the stage, because I liked you so much.

Iyanla: Can you hear I didn’t know that? Can you hear…

Oprah: But what did you think that meant?

Iyanla: I couldn’t receive it Oprah.  I couldn’t recognize it. I didn’t even know what it was.  You gotta hear that. You gotta hear that Oprah. I didn’t even know what it was…I thought you wanted the work. I didn’t think that you wanted me.

Oprah: Oh my God. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it.

BACK TO SHOW

“What I got was, we often block our own blessings because we don’t feel inherently good enough, or smart enough, or pretty enough, or worthy enough. What this has show has taught me from Jackie Saberito, her face literally melted by the flames ignited in a car accident with a drunk driver, to Monica George, remember her? The mother with a young daughter and a brand new baby who lost both her arms and both legs. The show has taught me you are worthy because you are born, and because you are here. You’re being here, you’re being alive makes worthiness your birthright. You alone are enough. I’ve spoken to a lot of arrogant mean-spirited bullies, here, on this stage, bullies and batters, and all of them were masking the same thing, a sense of unworthiness. I’ve talked to nearly 30,000 people on this show and all 30,000 had one thing in common. They all wanted validation. And if I could reach through this television, sit on your sofa, or sit on a stool in your kitchen right now, I would tell you that every single person you ever will meet shares that common desire. They want to know; Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything to you? Understanding that one principle, that everybody wants to be heard, has allowed me to hold the microphone for you all, all these years, with the least amount of judgment. Now I can’t say I wasn’t judging some days. Some days I had to judge just a little bit, but its help me to stand and to try to do that with an open mind, and to do it with an open heart. It has worked for this platform, and I guarantee you, it will work for yours. Try it with your children, with your husband, your wife, your boss, your friends; Validate them. I see you. I hear you, and what you say, matters to me.