00:00You know, when it comes to philanthropy, which is something that my family and I have been doing
00:09basically our whole lives, I grew up in the country in a very small town, and we didn't
00:16call it philanthropy back there. We called it being a good neighbor. When my dad made $14,000
00:26a year and raised four kids, and we were one of the wealthier families, we thought we were
00:34good. And when the neighbors, you know, a mile down the road with seven or eight kids and
00:44they didn't have food for Thanksgiving or Christmas or gifts, we made it for them and put together
00:53gifts, and I don't know how, and then we wrapped them and then we took the car and we turned
01:00off the engine about a quarter of a mile from their house and drifted the car up and then
01:06we snuck out of the car and put everything on their doorstep. That wasn't called philanthropy.
01:14It was called love. And so I say to you, what is love? Because I think we're at a time in
01:28the world where that is really the question. What is love? And I think it begins truly with
01:36forgiveness. Because for whatever your beliefs may be, whatever you call the God experience
01:44in your life and in your world, the higher power, the love of nature, the spiritual inclination,
01:52that is love. And that energetic feeling is that of self-forgiveness first. Because we must love
02:03ourselves, we must love ourselves to love another. And to love ourselves wholly and fully, we must
02:10forgive ourselves. We must forgive ourselves for even the unforgivable things that we have done.
02:16And by doing that, we must set down our shame. And we must understand that all of us have been
02:24shameful and we have all been shamed. And we must earn our own self-forgiveness by facing ourselves
02:32truly and genuinely. And then to forgive another, we must stand with them while they face their own
02:39shame. And then we must embrace them and allow them to love their failed humanity as we love our own
02:47failed humanity. There have been times in my life of tremendous trauma. And I begin to believe that the
02:56purpose of life itself is to understand our trauma, survive it, and teach others to do the same.
03:04This, for me, is really what philanthropy is.
03:11In my many years of being a field worker for HIV-AIDS, in the beginning, I thought, I am going to find the
03:19cure for AIDS. I will get the money. I will do this thing.
03:27I was young. I was young. And I really thought, that Elizabeth Taylor, she got this thing going,
03:34and look at me. I'm going to wrap it up.
03:37I was so young. And I totally fucked up my acting career and messed up what people thought about me and
03:48became this really eccentric, crazy woman who went around the world begging for money and crying and
03:55failing and messing up and hoping and studying in laboratories with scientists and going in
04:02orphanages with babies and children who had AIDS who were dying and mothers who were going to die
04:09before their children. And I saw the world. And I really learned what philanthropy meant.
04:18And it meant forgiving myself and forgiving others. Because there were a lot of people to forgive.
04:23And while I did that 30-year journey, there were a lot of people who really needed a lot of
04:31fucking forgiveness. And let me tell you, it was really hard to forgive a lot of those motherfuckers.
04:41I've been on my knees a lot. And I will tell you that if you cannot forgive, you cannot serve.
04:57You must learn to forgive. And you must learn to give. And even if you push someone to the ground,
05:04you better learn how to get them back up again. And if even someone pushed you to the ground,
05:10you better reach out and put up your hand. And you better let that very same motherfucker pick you up.
05:17Because that is the way the world works. And if you think you are here to do anything else on this
05:23planet, you have not yet learned the meaning of love, the meaning of giving, and the meaning of philanthropy.
05:30And that is why I am your opening speaker.
05:32I will tell you for sure that not everybody has liked me. Not everybody has loved me. And not everyone
05:44has forgiven me. But I stand here, not in my shame. I stand here in my love. And I love you. And I thank you.
05:55And I am on my knees to ask you to love me back, to love the person next to you. And so I would like you
06:05to turn to the person next to you. And I would like you to look at them. And even if you never met them,
06:13I would like you to forgive them. And accept them. And let them know it. Because that is your courageous
06:26act today. That is your act of philanthropy. Thank you. Goodbye.
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