What are you here to teach me?

Excerpt from Oprah Winfrey's Commencement Speech, Stanford University 2008.

" Now I want to talk a little bit about failings, because nobody's journey is seamless or smooth. We all stumble. We all have setbacks. If things go wrong, you hit a dead end - as you will - it's just life's way of saying time to change course. So ask every failure - this is what I do with every failure, every crisis, every difficult time - I say, what is this here to teach me? And as soon as you get the lesson, you get to move on. If you really get the lesson, you pass and you don't have to repeat the class. If you don't get the lesson, it shows up wearing another pair of pants - or skirt - to give you some remedial work. "

Source: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2008/june18/como-061808.html

I make no apologies for admiring Ms Winfrey. She is far from perfect, but she talks about things that I need to hear, in a way I like to hear them. Hey many of my girlfriends would say Angelina Jolie is a cooler role model, but I'm not about being cool. I often find myself connecting with Oprah's message. Perhaps it is a delivery thing. So many great people say (and do) so many great things. Different people connect with some more than others.

This particular excerpt, I first heard Oprah say on her tv show, a year or two a go, I think. It was one of those rare times that H actually sits down with me to watch Oprah. And that message stuck with him too. I know because today he threw it back at me to remind me of something I needed to learn.