Today marks the official beginning of the end- the end to the Oprah Winfrey Show. I don't exactly remember when I started watching her show- sometime as a little girl staying with my grandma in the afternoons. I remember once my grandma encouraged me to start a project of writing to women role models. I think the only two I eventually wrote to were Hillary Rodham Clinton (the First Lady at the time) and, you guessed it, Oprah Winfrey. I can only imagine what I must have written in the letter or how horrendous my spelling must have been (if you've seen my grade school writing journals, you'd know what I'm talking about), but they both returned my letter with one of their own along with an autographed photo. I can still picture the swirly "O" in Oprah's signature.
I know she has lost fans in recent years for her endorsements New Age religion, but Oprah is still in my eyes, so much more. Oprah to me is proof of what can happen if someone believes in her(his)self and goes after their dreams. Letting nothing- not closed doors or criticism, not setbacks or big change stop them, but continuing on until they find a way to live the life they feel called to.
Oprah is also an example of a person who lives vibrantly with arms wide-open. She seems to be a person who sees, breathes, lives and gives possibility. She cares about others and uses her name and resources to help them.
The night before her first national show, Oprah wrote in her journal, "I keep wondering how my life will change, if it will change and what all this means. Why have I been so blessed? Maybe going national was to help me realize that I have important work or that this work is important. Which is it?"
It's both.
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