The Last Lecture || Do you have an end-game plan..??

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Update below, July 2008


What would you do if you were told you had three months to live..?? ...six months to live..?? What if you had three young children, all under five years of age..?? ...and a loving wife..??

What would you do..?? If you could put a message in a bottle and send it to your future grown children . . .what would you say..?? What could you say..??


This was the question University of Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch found himself facing in August, 2007. Previously diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, radical surgery and aggressive chemotherapy had failed to stop the metastasis of cancerous cells. With ten separate 'spots' in his liver he was given three to six months "of good health" before succumbing to the cancer consuming his body.


The Last Lecture is both the title of the book telling his story and the former title of a lecture series at Carnegie Mellon where lecturers are asked "to offer reflections on their personal and professional journeys." While the series is now formally know as "Journeys" it is still informally known as the 'Last Lecture' series. Pausch jokes in the book that when he finally met the qualifications to participate ...they changed the name.


Despite the topics of cancer, death, and preparing for death, The Last Lecture is an entertaining, if not funny, look at the life of Randy Pausch and the lasting messages he wants to leave for his children, for his students, for his colleagues, for anyone touched by his words.

But early in the book you become acutely aware that his children and his wife are the focus of his last lecture, of his last days. His love for all of them comes through loud and clear in his words. Even his realization that the time spent preparing 'the last lecture' might be time stolen from his family weighs on him. But he does it because he knows that he can use this moment as a major part of that 'time capsule' for his children in the distant future.


The skeleton of the 'last lecture', titled: How to Really Achieve Your Childhood Dreams, is an examination of his real childhood dreams. Listing seven 'dreams', he examines his life journey in terms of being able to achieve those dreams, those goals. From "being in zero gravity" to "being a Disney Imagineer" some were achieved. While others, for example "playing in the NFL" and "being Captain Kirk", were not. But achieved or falling a bit short, each dream brought lessons learned and value to his life.

It is in sharing those lessons and those values that he brings the real measure of his experiences to the reader. One of the most important lessons he shares, almost a maxim if you will, is "Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something." Believe me, he shares many touching stories of how he broke through brick walls, climbed over brick walls, or used 'head fakes' to get around brick walls to achieve many of the goals, and childhood dreams, in his life.


Much of the book emphasizes believing in the potential of others, challenging them to do their best, and giving them the settings, the skills, and the guidance to do just that. This is demonstrated time and again in the stories that he shares here.


The Bottom Line
The 'bottom line' is that Randy Pausch is going to die sooner rather than later. He is apparently still alive as of this date. He continues to fight, he continues to bust through brick walls, he continues to have fun, he continues to love his family and create memories of himself that might serve them well in the future.

In the end, perhaps that is the most that any of us might hope for, that somehow we might touch future generations with something we helped create, if only our children.

The Last Lecture is a heartfelt essay that many will find valuable for years to come. That as well as his other legacies outlined in the book will mean his life will touch many other lives for years to come.



Update, July 27, 2008


Randy Pausch passed away Friday, July 25, 2008. My blog posting can be found here:

http://sleepingintheheartland.blogspot.com/2008/07/beating-reaper-randy-pausch-1960-2008.html



Additional resources:

www.randypausch.com:
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

Includes video embeds of the actual 'Last Lecture' delivered at Carnegie Mellon, and ABC special with Diane Sawyer, and other material.


http://www.thelastlecture.com/

Information about the book from the publisher


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