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Some universities present a Last Lecture Series in which top professors are invited to speak as if it is the last lecture they will ever give, imparting words of advice and discussing what has mattered most deeply in their lives. Yesterday, at Carnegie Mellon, the last lecture was far more than hypothetical.
There's a video of some of the lecture highlights here:
I heard part of his speech on the radio this morning and very touched by his bravery and inspired by his words of wisdom. One of the things that really struck me was when he talked about setbacks, about the "brick walls" that we hit in life. He said that the brick walls are a chance to prove how badly we want something. They only keep out the people who don't want it badly enough. Considering how many of his goals he achieved, I can't help but take that advice to heart.
He spoke of his childhood dreams and how he had accomplished almost all of them: from winning giant stuffed animals to becoming an Imagineer to floating in zero gravity. It was a great presentation, very uplifting, although I did get a bit sad in parts thinking about his family that will be left behind.
The entire lecture is up on youtube.com
Randy Pausch set the tone early on yesterday at his farewell lecture at Carnegie Mellon University.
"If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you," said Dr. Pausch.
It is probably the last public speech Dr. Pausch will give anywhere. The 46-year-old computer science professor and father of three preschoolers has incurable pancreatic cancer. Doctors have given him months to live.
Yet, standing at the podium in McConomy Auditorium on the campus yesterday, Randy Pausch did not focus on impending death. Instead, he celebrated the chance he had been given to live the life he always had dreamed of.
There's a video of some of the lecture highlights here:
I heard part of his speech on the radio this morning and very touched by his bravery and inspired by his words of wisdom. One of the things that really struck me was when he talked about setbacks, about the "brick walls" that we hit in life. He said that the brick walls are a chance to prove how badly we want something. They only keep out the people who don't want it badly enough. Considering how many of his goals he achieved, I can't help but take that advice to heart.
He spoke of his childhood dreams and how he had accomplished almost all of them: from winning giant stuffed animals to becoming an Imagineer to floating in zero gravity. It was a great presentation, very uplifting, although I did get a bit sad in parts thinking about his family that will be left behind.
The entire lecture is up on youtube.com
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