But that didn，t matter to me， because I was earning a living. I was on my way. So， I thought， I，m going to let this college thing go and I only had one credit short. But， my father， from that time on and for years after， was always on my case， because I did not graduate. He，d say， " I don，t know what you，re gonna do without that degree." And I，d say， "But， Dad， I have my own television show."
And he，d say， "Well， I still don，t know what you，re going to do without that degree."And I，d say， "But， Dad， now I，m a talk show host." He，d say， "I don，t know how you，re going to get another job without that degree."
So， in 1987， Tennessee State University invited me back to speak at their commencement. By then， I had my own show， was nationally syndicated. I，d made a movie， had been nominated for an Oscar and founded my company， Harpo. But I told them， I cannot come and give a speech unless I can earn one more credit， because my dad，s still saying I，m not going to get anywhere without that degree.
So， I finished my coursework， I turned in my final paper and I got the degree. And my dad was very proud. And I know that， if anything happens， that one credit will be my salvation.
But I also know why my dad was insisting on that diploma， because， as B. B. King put it， "The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take that away from you." And learning is really in the broadest sense what I want to talk about today， because your education， of course， isn，t ending here. In many ways， it，s only just begun.
The world has so many lessons to teach you. I consider the world， this Earth， to be like a school and our life the classrooms. And sometimes here in this Planet Earth school the lessons often come dressed up as detours or roadblocks. And sometimes as full-blown crises. And the secret I，ve learned to getting ahead is being open to the lessons， lessons from the grandest university of all， that is， the universe itself.
It，s being able to walk through life eager and open to self-improvement and that which is going to best help you evolve， because that，s really why we，re here， to evolve as human beings. To grow into more of ourselves， always moving to the next level of understanding， the next level of compassion and growth.
I think about one of the greatest compliments I，ve ever received: I interviewed with a reporter when I was first starting out in Chicago. And then many years later， I saw the same reporter. And she said to me， "You know what? You really haven，t changed. You，ve just become more of yourself."
And that is really what we，re all trying to do， become more of ourselves. And I believe that there，s a lesson in almost everything that you do and every experience， and getting the lesson is how you move forward. It，s how you enrich your spirit. And， trust me， I know that inner wisdom is more precious than wealth. The more you spend it， the more you gain.
So， today， I just want to share a few lessons-meaning three-that I，ve learned in my journey so far. And aren，t you glad? Don，t you hate it when somebody says， "I，m going to share a few，" and it，s 10 lessons later? And， you，re like， "Listen， this is my graduation. This is not about you." So， it，s only going to be three.
The three lessons that have had the greatest impact on my life have to do with feelings， with failure and with finding happiness.
A year after I left college， I was given the opportunity to co-anchor the 6 o，clock news in Baltimore， because the whole goal in the media at the time I was coming up was you try to move to larger markets. And Baltimore was a much larger market than Nashville. So， getting the 6 o，clock news co-anchor job at 22 was such a big deal. It felt like the biggest deal in the world at the time.
And I was so proud， because I was finally going to have my chance to be like Barbara Walters， which is who I had been trying to emulate since the start of my TV career. So， I was 22 years old， making $22，000 a year. And it，s where I met my best friend， Gayle， who was an intern at the same TV station. And once we became friends， we，d say， "Oh my God I can，t believe it! You，re making $22，000 and you，re only 22. Imagine when you，re 40 and you，re making $40，000!"
When I turned 40， I was so glad that didn，t happen.
So， here I am， 22， making $22，000 a year and， yet， it didn，t feel right. It didn，t feel right. The first sign， as President Hennessy was saying， was when they tried to change my name. The news director said to me at the time， "Nobody，s going to remember Oprah. So， we want to change your name. We，ve come up with a name we think that people will remember and people will like. It，s a friendly name: Suzie."
Hi， Suzie. Very friendly. You can，t be angry with Suzie. Remember Suzie. But my name wasn，t Suzie. And， you know， I，d grown up not really loving my name， because when you，re looking for your little name on the lunch boxes and the license plate tags， you，re never going to find Oprah.
So， I grew up not loving the name， but once I was asked to change it， I thought， well， it is my name and do I look like a Suzie to you? So， I thought， no， it doesn，t feel right. I，m not going to change my name. And if people remember it or not， that，s OK.
And then they said they didn，t like the way I looked. This was in 1976， when your boss could call you in and say， "I don，t like the way you look." Now that would be called a lawsuit， but back then they could just say， "I don，t like the way you look." Which， in case some of you in the back， if you can，t tell， is nothing like Barbara Walters. So， they sent me to a salon where they gave me a perm， and after a few days all my hair fell out and I had to shave my head. And then they really didn，t like the way I looked. Because now I am black and bald and sitting on TV. Not a pretty picture.
But even worse than being bald， I really hated， hated， hated being sent to report on other people，s tragedies as a part of my daily duty， knowing that I was just expected to observe， when everything in my instinct told me that I should be doing something， I should be lending a hand.
So， as President Hennessy said， I，d cover a fire and then I，d go back and I，d try to give the victims blankets. And I wouldn，t be able to sleep at night because of all the things I was covering during the day.
