The Week Of Asking Oprah's Friends: Letter to Nate Berkus

There's something really special about Nate Berkus. And it's not just his boyish good looks and quippy one-liners. It's more than the fact that he's helped countless minimum-wage families to live with a little more pizazz. It even goes beyond his ability to turn seemingly impossible items like life-sized ceramic cats into the centerpieces of rooms.

All these things about Nate are special, yes. But even more special to me is how he's used his own misfortune to bring attention to other people's suffering.

As you might know, Nate and his boyfriend were in Sri Lanka when the tsunami of 2004 struck. When it hit, entire communities were wiped out and thousands of people were killed, including Nate's boyfriend. Only a few weeks after it all happened, Nate went onto the Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about the loss of his boyfriend, as well as the losses of all those who didn't have his resources or public platform to speak from. In the process, he managed to bring much-needed attention (and donations) to the survivors of the Tsunami, while (perhaps inadvertantly) doing more to humanize gay couples than any liberal media efforts had up until that point.

I love you, Nate. I thank you, Nate. And regardless of whether or not you answer my letter, I do hope you read it.