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| Photo/Oprah.com |
It may sound cliché, but Oprah has always been one of those “people I’d like to meet” – right up there with Dolly Parton, Reese Witherspoon and a whole host of country music performers. As the world watched Oprah’s last show, we’ve seen the many ways Oprah has impacted lives and the amazing reach of her influence.
Because it was on at 4 p.m., I wasn’t a regular Oprah viewer, really only catching episodes when I was home sick, home with a newborn or working from home and needed a 10-minute break. Yet, I have followed her career and I respect Oprah immensely. I admire anyone who can overcome difficult circumstances to make something of herself. So many people blame their troubles on a rough childhood, growing up without a father, poverty or a lack of role models in their immediate family. Do circumstances make a difference? Of course. They may make your life’s road a little more bumpy or silky smooth, but the course is still yours to take.
I read this quote from Oprah in the May issue of “O” magazine as she summed up what she says is the essence of what she’s tried to say with the show over 25 years:
You are not the product of your circumstances. You are a composite of all the things you believe, and all the places you believe you can go. Your past does not define you. You can step out of your history and create a new day for yourself. Even if the entire culture is saying, “You can’t.” Even if every single possible bad thing that can happen to you does. You can keep going forward.