There was a professor of computer science and human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. His name was Dr. Randy Pausch. He was quite an amazing man, for his achievements in education, which should not be overlooked, but also for the battle he has fought valiantly in the past view years.
You see, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August of 2006. His doctors tried to kill it with a plethora of treatments, from surgery to experimental chemotherapy, but within one year it was found to have metastasized to his liver and spleen, thus becoming terminal cancer. By May of this year, tumors were detected in his lungs and lymph system.
Today, July 25th, on Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer announced that Dr. Randy Pausch finally lost the battle at home in Chesapeake, Virginia.
This is not an obituary, however. This is for me to relay what he taught us from his battle, his amazingly calm philosophy of life that was created in the final burning embers of his own.
There was a series of lectures at a variety of Universities in the U.S. where professors were asked to think about what matters most to them, and present it to students as a "last lecture," something that they would say if they were hypothetically dying. Dr. Pausch's speech was written for this series of lectures, and was particularly riveting and emotional because he actually was dying. I would like to post this lecture, because I believe that we can learn things not only from our own experiences, but from the experiences of others, in addition to it being an active memorial for an amazing man.
Full speech transcript:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/TenWays/Story?id=3675954&page=3
Video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Book site:
http://www.thelastlecture.com/
"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, only how we play the hand." -Dr. Randy Pausch
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." -Dr. Randy Pausch
Current Mood: Exhausted
Listening To: "Walk On" by U2
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