What’s ON a Name? (Part One)

Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney Houston, Adolph Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston, Janet Jackson, Mike Tyson, Martha Stewart, T.O., J-Lo, John Daly, Michael Jackson.

Can you imagine being at a dinner and sitting at the table with that group? As long as I got to sit between Oprah and Lincoln, and far away from AH and MJ, I’d flat out enjoy myself. I’d actually pay $$$ to witness a MT meets MS - I don’t know which one would run for the door first!

The reason this dubious little group led the post off is because I’ve been thinking again. Yes, even on a weekend.

I started thinking about Oprah Friday, because my husband was talking to one of our girls about education. He was saying how females had to work twice as hard as males to get as far. Things are getting better in our society, but they’ve by no means arrived. Sad to say, it’s the same with equality of the races - I believe a person who isn’t white has to work twice as hard as well. I was thinking about that and one of my favorite people popped into my mind - Oprah Winfrey. The lady is a black female, meaning that she had to work twice as twice as hard!

Think of the name this lady has made for herself. When you hear or read the name, Oprah Winfrey, you think of a lot of adjectives. And they’re all good. Think about it, hers is one of the few famous names that doesn’t come with baggage. If the only thing anyone could ever say bad about you was that you once battled a weight problem, you’ve done more than well for yourself, and you’ve put pride and dignity on your all-important name.

To really emphasize what I’m saying, think about this: If you were to read in the paper tomorrow that she had been accused of stealing money or cheating on her taxes, you’d never believe it. Your reaction would be like mine would, “Somebody made a mistake”….or….”Somebody sat her up!” I can’t think of anything bad that I’d believe of her. Her reputation is one of fairness, generosity and honesty.

She created her name, wrote it in high places and she lives up to it daily.

Oprah, unlike so many people in or out of the limelight, knows that making and keeping a name for yourself not only is hard work - it’s hard daily work. You don’t do something amazing and then rest underneath your tree of fame. You keep on going, doing one great thing after another - why settle on one tree, anyway, when you can build a forest!

Make each moment count double,
~Joi

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