Randy Pausch died this morning. The widely known ‘last-lecture’ Carnegie Mellon professor shot to fame after his famous and very-well-received “The Last Lecture” that was later published too. I too was mailed a video clip of the last lecture. Truth be said, I hadn’t heard of the guy and I barely viewed a minute of the 76 minute lecture. I have no idea what the lecture meant, to whomsoever it was directed. It was, to me, another last-chance-glory seeking exercise that Americans commonly find pleasure in doing.
I read on Google news of his demise this morning. The news prompted me to visit his homepage. This changed things. It might probably have been the predisposition towards an academician or merely the approval of simplicity. Whatever. It spoke a message – a simple and nice one.
Randy was an enthusiastic sufferer of a terminal disease. That’s what changes things. And that’s the message his webpage spoke too. It was the spirit in him that perhaps made living the last days of his life as normal, probably exciting too, as possible. He writes “I am very psyched I got them to put “Carnegie Mellon” on the cover!”, regarding his book release. It was clear how much he valued the simple joys that generally make life liveable.
His update page spoke volumes- better ones. It would be a travesty for me to speak anymore of it. Read for yorself:
In the last month, I’ve received a number of professional awards. I would be disingenuous if I didn’t admit that I don’t feel these are really deserved; after all, there’s the “give the dying guy an award” factor. However, they all reflect favorably on Carnegie Mellon and I accept them all gratefully. As they say, “Dying is a good career move.”
There’s nothing more to embellish the fact that the way we take things that come our way is crucial to a fecund existence. RIP.
1 Comment
July 26, 2008 at 9:48 pm
well written man…so now will you pay me the 500 you promised?