Last Lecture: “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”
Randy Pausch’s last lecture was originally given to some four hundred people in the McConomy Auditorium at Carnegie Mellon, where he was a professor. He had been diagnosed with cancer and told he had three months to live, just one month before delivering this speech. He died yesterday, and it was reading his obituary that described the speech, the subsequent book and the You Tube video that got me to take a look. I first began to watch the video almost million viewers ago (Friday), and finished it up yesterday, when the hit count was 4 121 135.
The line that touched me the most came at the end:
“Its not about how to achieve your dreams its about how to lead your life. If you lead your life in the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.” “(the) [t]alk is not for you, its for my kids.”
Pausch described the speech and book as being a time capsule for the three young children he has left behind. Listening to his explanation of some of his life experiences and relating them back to childhood dreams is something I would expect a lot of people can relate to. It is impossible to imagine having an open mic, an hour of air time and knowing the best medical advice you’ve received has told you in just three months you’ll be gone. Pausch demonstrated an incredible strength and used his opportunity to inspire others. The speech can only be described as a powerful tribute to a man whose fight was truly dignified and gave him a rare opportunity to touch millions of people at a time in his life when many are strong but rarely have the ability to leave this kind of mark on so many.
If you haven’t taken a look you should.
Randy Pausch: The Last Lecture
Tags: Last Lecture, Randy Pausch
