I've watched other people receive it,

I watched Maya Angelou receive hers, and Sydney Poitier.

And never even imagined that I would even ever be considered.

It's not the kind of thing that you grow up,

"I hope I get the Medal of Freedom."

So, when I received the call from the President himself,

saying that this was happening --

I hung up, and I thought, gee,

I didn't have an appropriate response,

because there is no appropriate response

to be honored by your country,

the highest honor in the land that says, really,

the work that you have done,

we respect and want to honor you for it.

I mean -- there -- I don't know how you have a response to that,

other than deep, deep, deep gratitude.

Which is what I feel today.

I was just standing, looking out over the White House lawn,

and, you know, the sun on my face and thinking about

the nearly 500 other people who've received this award,

who to me are American heroes, to be on the same list

with people like Ernie Banks and, my God, Gloria Steinem.

Had there not been Gloria Steinem

and her fight for women's rights,

I wouldn't even have had an opportunity

in the work that I've done.

Patricia Wald, and C.T. Vivian, and civil rights.

So, to be considered in that league

of all of those people is, I would say,

the greatest honor of my life.

Learning how to live a life of passion,

that if you follow your heart's desire and your passion,

that your passion will lead you to your purpose.

This is what I know for sure, and that every person who's born

has a calling, and it's your real job in life to figure out

what that calling is.

And that calling will be that heart's desire,

that thing that burns inside you that says, yes, I can,

and I love this, and this --

this gives me my juice.

This makes me feel alive.

The thing that makes you feel most alive is the thing

that you are to give back to the world.

And every person is here to offer what they have

to the rest of the world.

So, I try to share that with young people,

and also the need to be authentic, you know?

I have built a career and a life out of being myself.

Which, you know, in the beginning, I thought I could,

you know, watch Barbara Walters, and for a while I think I was

pretending to be Barbara Walters and talk like Barbara Walters,

and soon discovered early in my career

that I could be a better me,

a better Oprah than I could ever be a pretend Barbara Walters.

So I try to encourage young people to look for the --

the real work is to discover who you are,

and to use who you are in service to the world.