Inspiring Story of Oprah Winfrey!
Hello guys! How’re you doing? I hope everyone is doing great. I decided to share with you a story of a little girl, how she grew up, and all the difficulties she was faced with so that you can remember that there is nothing impossible in this world. And that that girl has figured out that finding your place in it, is the only fact that matters.
This is going to be my story. I was born in a tiny rural town in Mississippi into a very small and terribly poor African-American family. My mom met my dad and they immediately fell in love with each other, but they never got married actually. They separated soon after I was born. Of course, I stayed with my mom, or rather with her mom, because she herself had to make a living to provide for all of us. So I’d usually entertain myself by play-acting in front of an animal audience. I also used to have some fun with toys that I had made myself. I turned ears of corn into dolls and played with them, because, you know, our family couldn’t afford to buy real ones. I wasn’t miserable though, just a little girl trying to have some fun. However, I didn’t have much spare time because of my granny. She always tried to find me a job connected with studying. Under her strict control, I’d managed to learn how to read by the age of 2 and a half. I know that grandma loved me very much and wanted all the best for me, but she was a really tough woman. She never neglected to punish me, I mean, like physically beating me with switches for example.
Even though I was successful in my studies, I didn’t feel comfortable going to that school. You know, mom still couldn’t get a secure job, so there was a period when I had to wear a dress made of a potato sack. Even though granny tried to make it look OK, everybody around could still see what my dress was made of. Even though mom hadn’t visited me at all back then, I almost constantly felt like I missed her. I would dream of the moment when she’d come here and take me to live with her, and the two us of would be happy. I guess my dreams were not meant to come true. I mean, she did actually take me to live with her, but only because she was forced to since my grandma got really ill and couldn’t look after me any longer.
So, at the age of six, I joined my mom and half-sister in an extremely unhealthy neighborhood in the ghetto. Life there was crowded, I have to say. Mom worked as a maid, cleaning houses and she was almost always absent. But soon my mom sent me to live with my dad and his wife in Nashville. I was 12. They seemed to be really happy to have me living with them. And I was ok to be there too, I mean, at least I had my own personal bedroom. And our family attended church regularly, so again I started my public speeches at social gatherings and churches, and one time I earned five hundred dollars for a speech. But I still felt that I needed my mother’s love I guess because when dad took me to visit her, I decided to stay with her again.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be the toughest period of my life and one I would be happy to forget someday. Mom was busy at her job, like day and night, and did not have much time to supervise me, I would say. So I was on my own most of the time. I constantly lived in fear. You know, the low consciousness of the local population, the criminal environment, the poor urban lifestyle, and so on. There was plenty of stuff I wish I’d never done. I was emotionally devastated for years. I began dating guys, lots of guys, to be honest. I was stealing money and running away from home, which made my mom mad and disappointed in me. But, you know, this wasn’t the life I ever wanted to have and I was also mad at my mom for not taking care of me. I wanted to punish her with my bad behavior for being such a bad mom. And when I thought that there was no way for things to become worse, I got pregnant. I was scared to death and I didn’t know what to do. I thought, back then, that I’d rather kill myself than have a baby at 14. I also thought that this was the end of the world and I prayed to God to stop the pregnancy. He probably heard me because that baby-boy died just after a premature delivery. Tired of my “bad behavior,” as she put it, mom once again and forever, sent me to live with my dad in Nashville.
Then I’d won a full scholarship to Tennessee State University and became Miss Black Nashville and Miss Tennessee. It was my freshman year there and I was only 17. The following year I was invited to a White House Conference on Youth, where I must have been truly enthusiastic because I was further hired by the local radio station to do their afternoon newscasts. Later on, I managed to become Nashville’s first African American female co-anchor on the evening news. I was only 19 then. And this was when I could perfectly see what my life path was all about. I’ve had thousands upon thousands of ups and downs in my life. Today I am an African American television host and actress and a Media entrepreneur. My name is Oprah Winfrey. And I strongly believe that your only true job in the world as a human being is to discover why you came, why you are here. So I hope all of you are able to find yourselves. And remember, if you want to see changes, then get out there and make them yourself. If you liked my story feel free to share it with your friends.
I’m touched. Inspiring indeed!