The Last Lecture

I just finished reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (which I pre-ordered). Randy is a well-loved professor who taught in the School of Computer Science at my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the fastest acting of the cancers. I've seen it happen; my grandfather passed away from it. 8 months ago, Randy was told he only had 3-6 months to live. (He is still well now. His progress can be tracked here.) In academia, professors ponder what they would say if they knew that they were giving their "last lecture". Prior to receiving his bad news, he was already scheduled to give a lecture. He knew this would be it. You may be one of the millions who have seen the lecture on Oprah or on YouTube:



Though the treatments Randy undergoes are tough, it doesn't deter Randy's optimistic attitude and love for life. It saddens him that his three young children will grow up without a father, but he is doing his best to create happy memories with them now, leaves behind videos and letters of love to the children, and does what he can do now to ensure that his family can live as happily as possible without him in the future. His lecture on how to "Really Live Your Childhood Dreams" is for his children to watch when they grow up. His book expanded upon the anecdotes told in the lecture.
Randy talks about wanting to be a Disney Imagineer, wanting to play in the NFL, and other dreams he had as a kid. He shows that through dreaming and achieving as well as dreaming and failing, he learned through it all and lives a life he enjoys. My favorite story is from when Randy was a bachelor and took his niece and nephew for a weekend a month to give his sister some time off. He had just bought a new convertible, so his sister was lecturing the children to be sure to be careful in Uncle Randy's brand new car. The kids can't control their giggling as they watch their Uncle Randy purposely empty a can of coke right onto the backseat of his car as their mom was speaking. The lesson is that the car is just a material thing, so it does not matter. Later that weekend, Randy's nephew gets sick and throws up in the backseat, but he knows not to feel guilty.

Randy's book is not meant to be the words of a dying man. They are words of a man who truly knows how to live. He touched the lives of many in his popular undergraduate multi-disciplinary course, Building Virtual Worlds. He is also the innovator behind Alice, which I wrote about earlier. Now through his lecture and his book, he will touch more lives, but most importantly, he will reach those of his three children.