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My Grandfather and Oprah Winfrey

© Jennie S. Bev

"It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always." ~Oprah Winfrey

The ultimate triumph is not a climax. Rather, it is a continuous feeling knowing that we have all the personal and genuine resources to better our lives and to be able to touch people's life effortlessly. This might sound quite a utopia. You might feel that people of such qualities are hard to find and it is almost impossible to find. But I have found mine. Perhaps it is about time for you to find yours. Above all, to make yourself one.

I know at least two people who have touched people's lives simply by being themselves. The first one raised me lovingly and has touched deep into my soul whose spirit of generosity and philosophy "to live at the moment" is with me all the time. The other one is a role model whom I have never met in real life. A girl from a small town who grew up battling prejudice and realizing a dream that everybody can be him or herself unconditionally and still win. They are my grandfather and Oprah Winfrey.

Both of them are renowned for their generosity and depth of empathy. Both of them are the only people whom I know to have given a house as a present to their closest friends. (Note: I live in a limited circle, therefore pardon me if there are not many people whom I know to have performed this gesture. I personally believe that there must be many other people to have done this.) My grandfather once bought a house for his friend, whom he respected and cherished as his own brother.

The house mustn't have been very expensive, because my grandfather was not an affluent person financially. But the thing that amazes me (still) is that he didn't own a house for himself at that time. A person who didn't own any property purchased a house for somebody whom he believed to be his closest friend, his "brother by choice."

Oprah did the same thing. In my humble perspective, she did it even more lavishly. And of course, she has already owned an extravagant home (or several) for herself. She gave a $1 million dollar house to Gayle King, a former TV-news anchor who is the O's Editor-At-Large, her closest friend, her source of inspiration.

Thus, what did I learn from these two people whose generosity and giving spirit touch deeply into my soul?

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