Eulogies for Mattie
 Oprah Winfrey's Eulogy for Mattie Stepanek
Delivered at Mattie's funeral service, June 28, 2004
Good morning, everybody. I'm so happy to see you all here. It was such a
blessing to see all the firefighters and the trucks. Mattie would be so proud.
From the very first moment I met Mattie on my show, which was three years ago, I
fell in love with him. We became quick friends, e-mailing each other. I started
all of my e-mails to him with "Hello my guy" and we ended all our e-mails with
"I love you, you love me." He was an inspiration and will continue to be an
inspiration to me.
It's not often that we find people in our lives who create magic. I found him to
be magical. I could not believe so much wisdom, so much power, so much grace,
so much strength and love could come from one 10-year-old little boy.
He taught me a lot. He gave me a lot of advice. I remember when I was going to
end my show, I got an e-mail from Mattie and he said, "I know that you're
planning to retire your show on its 20th anniversary. It is my opinion that you
should wait. Twenty is not a good number for you," he said. "Twenty-five is a
better number and let me explain why." And he went on to explain why and ended
with, "I'll let you think on it."
I loved his inspiration and his desire to be known for his work and not just to
be famous. We had lots of conversations about what it meant to be famous and
what it meant to be important. And Mattie said he always wanted to know
important people and not just famous people. And he e-mailed me on the day that
he met Jimmy Carter, saying, "Did you know I met Jimmy Carter today? It was so
great because he is famous and important. He makes me really think about my
life and my purpose here on earth, just like you do. That is good," he said,
"because sometimes, especially when things get tough, I have a lot of wondering
going on inside my heart and mind. I'm very lucky and blessed to be friends
with my heroes. I wish that for other people too."
We often talked about the sunrises and sunsets and I shared with Mattie that I
wasn't a beach person because there was no need for me to tan. He encouraged me
to try the beach anyway, because there were so many other benefits to the beach
and sand. He said that he highly recommended this beach that he and his Mom
went to. And he could not understand why everybody wasn't out on the pier at
sunrise during their vacation, because he couldn't figure out why people would
want to miss a sunrise on their vacation. I said, "Mattie, most people like to
sleep."
We also talked a lot about dying. He often wrote to me about his feelings about
dying and I shared my feelings about dying with him. He said to me one day, "My
body is trying to die more and more each year, even though my spirit is trying
to keep it going even just a little bit longer." He said, "I sometimes get a
little depressed or angry when I'm sad about dying and the boys who live
upstairs said that because I got famous that I should always be happy and never
sad. I don't think they understand what it's like to know you have to live your
life so fast because unless I keep getting miracles, my life here won't last. I
am happy. I love life, but I also get scared about the pain of dying and about
what I will miss because I love living so, so, so, so much. Sometimes I think
it would be easier to know for sure when it will happen, but nobody knows for
sure. My Mom says I float between the possibilities of death and the
probability of it and most times I am so happy you would never even know I
think about it. Or maybe it's not depressed I get, but lonely about it because
people often don't understand how can you really love life and not be afraid of
being dead, but also dread dying and being gone. But I am very lucky and
blessed because too many people die and never live their dreams. And some don't
even have dreams or realize them if they do have them. I have big dreams and I
don't stop dreaming them until they happen."
He said to me, "I want to leave so many gifts for people when I'm not here
anymore. I really do want to be a peacemaker when I die. I want people to
remember me someday and say 'Oh, yes! Mattie. He was a poet, a peacemaker and a
philosopher who played.' I want that in a humble way, not a vain way."
With Mattie, the light of his life shined so brightly that every one of us who
knew him, who were honored and had the grace to meet him, will feel the glow
for the rest of our lives. I know that his Heartsong has left a heart print in
my life. A heart print that abides with me even now.
And I know that many of us believed that when we were with him, talked to him,
saw him, that we were witnessing the presence, as Jann said, of an angel here
on earth. I know for sure that now he has more than earned his wings.
Mattie, I love you and you love me.
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