Blog Assignment 6

Randy Pausch gave his last lecture on September 18, 2007. He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer on September 16, 2006 and was given three to six months of good health left. His last lecture was very upbeat and he was cracking jokes. I’m not sure I would able to act that way, knowing my time on Earth was limited. This just goes to show what a great, strong man Randy Pausch was. He mentioned the irony of this being his “last lecture”. He was at peace with his condition and chose to reach out and help individuals, one last time.

He walks into this auditorium to a standing ovation and responds with “make me earn it”. Well, Randy, you did. One of his jokes that I giggled at was when he addressed his disease with pancreatic cancer and says: “I’m still in better shape than most of you” and proceeds to do push-ups. He still had so much life in his final months. It was nice to see the pictures of him as a child, always with a smile on his face. In every image I googled of him, he was smiling. Even in this last lecture, he was smiling and laughing. He seemed very ambitious as a child by wanting to meet/ne Captain Kirk, play in the NFL, be in zero gravity, and becoming a Disney Imagineer. He accomplished several things he wanted to do or be as a child.

After he talked about his childhood dreams, he eased into enabling the dreams of others. He mentioned that there was no better job than enabling the childhood dreams of others. Tommy Burnette helped him realize that he could enable the dreams of others. He conducted an on-line class at Carnegie Mellon to teach others the same thing. He has helped so many people, and will continue doing so, even after his passing.

It is very rare to meet someone like Randy Pausch. Even though I do not know him personally, it’s not hard to distinguish what type of person he was. His last lecture video on YouTube has over fourteen million views, and that will continue to grow. I am very grateful this video was a requirement because it taught me how I can help others achieve their goal, as well as my own. His strength, courage, and giving nature is inspiring.