Oprah Show Finale Part 4
I took my last drive in from home to Harpo studios this morning to do an Oprah Show. I’ve done it thousands of times with the anticipation of knowing that you all would be here, audience, and today is the last time so the drive was a little different. Of course I’ll have my Harpo team here, doing shows for OWN. To all the tweeters who are asking what’s going to happen to the Harpo team? The answer is the team stays. Harpo stays. The building stays. But today was a different kind of drive in to work. As I’ve been saying to my staff all season, “we get to land this plane today. The wheels are down. We can see the runway. Everybody who works here at Harpo considers it a gift to have been able to serve all of you, our viewers. I’ve said many times I have the best team in TV and its not just because they’re great at what they do, not just because they work 17 hour days. But its because we all here are aligned with the vision of service to you our viewers. So Harpo family, thank you, for your love and your loyalty on this trip we’ve all had of a life time. People often ask me what is the secret to the success of this show? How have we lasted 25 years? I non-jokingly say my team, and, Jesus. Because nothing but the hand of God (Applause) has made this possible for me. For all of you who get riled up when I mention God and you want to know which God am I talking about. I’m talking about the same one you talking about. I’m talking about the alpha and omega, the omniscient, the omnipresent, the ultimate consciousness, the source, the force, the all of everything there is, the one, and only, G.O.D. That’s the one I’m talking about. I know I’ve never been alone and you haven’t either. And I know that that presence, that glow, some people call it grace, is working in my life at every single turn, and yours too if you let it in. It’s closer than your breath and it is yours for the asking. How do I know this? Well, for that one teeny little sperm of Vernon Winfrey, hitting that egg of Vernita Lee, in the one time they were together under the trees in Mississippi, and voila, out, pops, me! (Applause) From Mississippi to this moment with you, I know what a miracle that is. I have felt the presence of God my whole life, even when I didn’t have a name for it. I could feel the voice bigger than myself speaking to me and all of us have that same voice. Be still and know it. You can acknowledge it or not. You can worship it or not. You can praise it. You can ignore it. Or, you can know it. Know it. It’s always there, speaking to you, and waiting for you to hear it. In every move, in every decision, I wait, and I listen. I’m still. I wait and listen for the guidance that’s greater than my meager mind. The only time I’ve ever made mistakes is when I didn’t listen. So what I know is, is God, is, love. And God is life. And your life is always speaking to you. First in whispers. And a whisper in your life feels like “hmmm that’s odd,’ or ‘hmmm that doesn’t make no sense,’ or ‘hmmm is that right?’ Its subtle those whispers, and if you don’t pay attention to the whispers, it gets louder, and louder, and louder. It’s like, getting thumped up-side the head like my grandmother used to do. Thump you upside the head. You don’t pay attention to that, it’s like getting a brick up-side your head. You don’t pay attention to that the whole brick wall falls down. That’s the pattern that I’ve seen in my life, and its played out over and over again on this show. And so I ask you; what are the whispers in your life right now? What’s whispering to you, and will you hear it? Your life is speaking to you. What is it saying?
Part 5
People ask uh do I have regrets. I have none really about this show. But the one thing I feel I was not able to bring enough attention to although I tried in 217 shows was the sexual seduction, molestation, and rape of children, worst now with the internet than it was 25years ago when I first spoke publically in November of 1986 of my own sexual abuse. Even though I was able to speak about it because I felt safe enough with you as an audience, I still hadn’t released the shame of it. It wasn’t until many years later on a show with child molesters one of them shared how they calculate and artfully manipulate to seduce children. When I finally realized, like many of you, it really wasn’t my fault. One of the proudest moments in the history of the Oprah Show was when my friend Tyler Perry joined me, on this stage, and gave us his testimony of sexual abuse and then was joined by 200 men.
(CUT TO: CLIP OF SHOW)
Oprah: There are 200 men standing in our audience right now. each one is holding a picture of themselves at the age when they say they were first sexually abused. These courageous men are standing together to lift the veil of shame today because what happened to them as young boys has profoundly affected who they have become as men.
(Montage of Men speaking their truths.)
"I’m a husband. I’m a son. I’m a boyfriend. I’m a grandfather of 7. I work for child welfare. I work for the federal government. The sexual abuse started when I was 4. I was sexually assaulted at 16. I was raped at the age of 14. I was 6. I was 12.I was 7. I was sexually abused my entire childhood until I was 18."
BACK TO SHOW
"What a full circle moment. I felt safe enough with you all 25 years ago. This season they felt safe enough with me. Thank you Tyler and every man who had the strength to stand up for the little boy inside."
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