Randy Pausch, the Carnegie-Mellon professor whose "Last Lecture" to his students (former and current) wife, three children and colleagues became a viral sensation on the Internet, has succumbed to pancreatic cancer. In true Randy Pausc
h style--and because I watched and am a big fan of the lecture--we won't get into the details of his death, but rather we'll celebrate his life. Randy taught at UVa. when I lived in Charlottesville, and while I did not know him or his family, I have friends who did and say he was one of the most encouraging, entertaining and genuine people they’ve met. He was Selfe-powered! *(A new term I'm using to describe people who care about the Great Big Small Things;-)Randy knew his cancer was terminal when he delivered what was actually titled, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” yet, instead of being gloomy and sullen it was one of the most inspirational talks I've heard. It made me, and countless others around the world, want to live--and to live better lives.
He began by showing the audience scans of his liver tumors and explaining his grim diagnosis. "That is what it is, we can't change it, and we just have to decide how we are going to respond to it," he said. "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be . . . sorry to disappoint you!"
He went on to provide some amazingly simple, humorous and heartfelt insight into living life fully and without regret:
SOME RANDY PAUSCH LESSONS
To live well, a person must first be grateful for being alive
Being alive and living does not mean that one has beaten the Grim Reaper
What matters more are the things that a person does between birth and death
The unchanging fact is that the Grim Reaper will come for every single one of us
To beat the Grim Reaper, a person has to live fully and well
To live well, a person must follow their heart and passion, and do what he/she is excited about
If a person has not found their passion yet, continue searching
A person should never give up the search for passion
Without passion, all a person does in life in merely waiting for the Grim Reaper
Passion is not found in material things
If a person uses material things as a measure of living well, they will always find other people around who have more of those things. This will lead to discontentment and unhappiness
Passion must always be grounded in people
Passion is about the relationship a person has with other people, and how they are able to gain the trust, respect, and love of those around them
Like passion, true love is worth searching and waiting for
A person should not settle for anyone, but rather, seek the person whose happiness is more important that one’s own
When the Grim Reaper shows up, it is already too late to do all the things you wanted to do, but did not get around to doing
At a person’s deathbed they are likely to regret what they did not do, not what they did
Randy says there are always obstacles (like cancer) in life, but he believed they serve a purpose. "The brick walls are there for a reason. Right? The brick walls are not there to keep us out, the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough," he said in his lecture.
Thank you Randy, for leaving the world a better place. God speed.
***(I tried unsuccessfully to upload the YouTube/Carnegie Mellon video of Randy's Last Lecture. If you'd like to view it, please go here and watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo&eurl=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92922083)
