The Last Lecture

(May 20, 2008)

It is a coincidence that on the same day Senator Kennedy learned of his cancer, I got the news: prostate cancer. All the more reason I am glad to have stumbled onto “The Last Lecture” phenomenon last week. For those who are “way ahead of me” on this, please understand I have been a bit preoccupied lately, and just got plugged into this amazing story. Randy Pausch’s fateful journey blesses me.

Just in case you are not among the 5,000,000 people who have viewed Dr. Pausch’s hour long lecture on YouTube, or have not read his national bestseller by the same name, I highly recommend you viewing and reading it.

What is “The Final Lecture”? It is a tradition at Carnegie Mellon University, where 47-year old Dr. Pausch teaches. Professors are asked to deliver a lecture called “The Last lecture” in which he or she attempts to say what they would say if they had but one last lecture to deliver.

For most it is an academic exercise.

For Professor Pausch, “The Last Lecture” became a reality when he was diagnosed last September with terminal pancreatic cancer. His doctors gave him three to six months of quality life before facing inevitable death.

Before you assume his lecture and book are morbid or remorseful, Randy Pausch is energized, entertaining, even making jokes about his situation. What an example for anyone who hears the dreaded “C” word; now including me!

· Live every day to its fullest.
· Deliver ever lecture (sermon) as if it were your last – because it may well be.
· No whining or griping or asking “Why me?”

Dr. Pausch wrote: “I knew what I was doing that day. Under the ruse of giving an academic lecture, I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children. If I were a painter, I would have painted for them. If I were a musician, I would have composed music. But I am a lecturer. So I lectured. I lectured about the joy of life, about how much I appreciated life, even with so little of my own left. I talked about honesty, integrity, gratitude, and other things I hold dear.”

What a magnificent formula for living, whatever our vocation, and regardless of how many days we have left. What a word of grace, just in time, for a fellow journeyman with cancer.

From the Quote Garden
"It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.”
~ Randy Pausch