Amy Poehler receives the Variety Power of Women Award at the Variety Power of Women event on October 4, 2013.
Thank you, Dr. Jane. I had asked Dr. Jane to mention my uterus early on in her speech and I appreciate that she did. I was gonna say it’s hard to follow Dr. Jane Aronson but it’s actually very easy to follow you, Jane. I’d follow you anywhere. And from the minute I met you, I knew we would be lifelong friends and we’ve gone from being colleagues to being real close friends and that is a part of the work that people haven’t really spoke up tonight, which is the idea of meeting like-minded people who become your travelers in life and… yes, sure, many who are here tonight. And it also proves my theory that you meet most of your closest friends over the age of 40.
This award is shared obviously with Dr. Jane and every staff member, board member, a person who’s donated, sponsor, WWO staff member and orphan rangers who changed the lives of children.
As an actress, sometimes people care about what I care about. If you don’t believe that I’m an actress, just take note of the fact that this speech is written on the back of sides. But we’re here in Beverly Hills which, let’s face it, is the moon. It’s the weirdest place in the world and for some reason I have some currency here and the best thing I’ve done so far with it is to decide to join the wonderful people at WWO. And I am incredibly honored to be included in this afternoon. There are so many incredibly talented, compassionate, curious, open-hearted and open-minded people in the room. Women and men. And I’m thrilled to be part of them.
And so I’m going to steal something that Jane did to me, which is to speak from the heart and ask you all to close your eyes. Just for a second. So just take a minute, close your eyes and think about your children, right? So, if you have children, picture them. And if you don’t have children, think about yourself as a child and think about the things that made you feel warm and happy and protected. And think about what made you feel okay and what makes your children feel okay. And take that warm feeling and put it into your heart and I bet a lot of you are smiling and thinking about the beautiful faces of your children and the beautiful face of yourself as a child. And now I ask you to open your eyes and to realize that there are so many children in the world who have nothing. They have nothing. They have no one who lights up when they walk into a room and they have no clothes and safety and food. They have nothing. And so who are we to be in this room and to be living this life without helping them, you know? That’s it. That’s the simple truth. I’m sorry.
So… people don’t talk enough about how good it feels to be of service. It’s really selfishly makes you feel really good. It’s good for your ego. And we should tell more people that. That it makes you feel really good. You should do it because it makes you feel good. And Jane’s taught me that nothing is too big, you know? That no problem, of all the stuff we’re talking about today, and people will talk about feels really huge and Jane is an example of nothing can’t be tackled or approached in small ways.
So as I get older, I realize that I am old. But I also realize I don’t know very much and all I have is the present moment and I want to be around people that do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore that judge or talk or talk about what people do. I want to be around people who dream and support and do things and I my feel like I’m around those people today.
Every child should believe they are the center of the universe. If your child believes that right now, you’re doing a good job. We should teach children all over the world that they are beautiful and loved and deserve the simple basic things in life. And our goal, I would say, Jane’s goal and mine is that someday an orphan who was helped by WWO, who was supported and encouraged and lifted up by WWO, receives this award. Because that is the goal: that what we’re doing now lives on, that life continues and that love wins.
So thank you very much for including me. Thank you to all the beautiful bossy, right amount of crazy women that are in this room. Thank you to my parents, who I’m lucky to have had and who aspire me. Thank you to Variety and Lifetime and NBCUniversal, who are supporting me here today. And if you take one thing from this event, please remember that giving to charity is good for your skin and it makes your ass smaller. Thank you.
