STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Our former morning edition co-host has an NPR podcast, Wild Card With Rachel Martin. She talks with famous and interesting people. They pick cards with prewritten questions and answer them with often surprising results. I like this podcast. Although obviously, there's a problem with the title - could be shorter. Wild Card With Rachel Martin could just be Wild Card With Rachel, especially now that she has talked with Oprah. Here's one of the questions she pulled from a wild card.
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RACHEL MARTIN: How do you think your life should be judged?
OPRAH WINFREY: Oh, that is just the best question. And I have the best answer.
MARTIN: Oh (laughter). If she does say so herself.
WINFREY: I have the best answer for you, girl.
MARTIN: Give it to me.
WINFREY: OK. When I had finished opening my school in South Africa and Maya Angelou wasn't allowed to come because she had the flu - she didn't come because she had the flu. I flew directly from South Africa to North Carolina to sit at Maya's table to tell her about the opening of the school. And I said, oh, Maya, Maya, Maya, this school is going to be my greatest legacy. And she said, you have no idea what your legacy is going to be. I said, oh, no, no, no, no, I know this school's going to be it because the girls - they're just so smart and they believe in education and they want it, and they're hungry for it. And she said, I said, you have no idea what your legacy will be because your legacy is not one thing, and it certainly isn't your name on a building. And even though the girls will go on and they will do great things in their lives, your legacy is every life you have touched. So how will I be judged? I will be judged by every life I have touched. Just recently, Gayle said to me, you know, all these people are doing memoirs and you still haven't done a memoir. And I said, you know, I think about it. I've had contracts to do it, and then backed out of the...
MARTIN: Yeah.
WINFREY: ...Contracts to do it. But I'm not worried about it, because the real story to be told, the real judgment of the life, which is the question from the wild card, the real judgment is whose life did you touch.
MARTIN: That's right.
WINFREY: What did you do when you were here? That's how you will be judged. And the people whose lives have been touched, they know that story. And I think of the impact of "The Oprah Show," it continues to manifest and live on by people who watch the show who raise their children differently. And that's what Maya said. It's every woman who decided to go back to school. It's everybody who saw it and said, today, I leave my abusive relationship. Today, I'm going to do something about my health. Today, I'm going to go get my blood pressure checked. Today, I'm going to make the decision to go to visit my estranged father whom I've not seen. It's every person who made a decision...
MARTIN: Who made a decision.
WINFREY: ...By watching...
MARTIN: That's right.
WINFREY: ...And hearing something that you've said.
MARTIN: Yeah.
WINFREY: And so the judgment isn't what the press says. The judgment isn't what other people who are hating on you or online are saying. It's every life you have touched, and I can live with that judgment.
INSKEEP: Oprah, speaking with Rachel. You can watch their hourlong conversation on YouTube. Just search for Wild Card With Rachel Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2ECOND CLASS CITIZEN SONG, "ROLL ON") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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