This Lecture Is For Your Own Good

The other day I sat down at my computer to view/listen to Professor Randy Pausch’s now famous “last lecture,” delivered in 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University, from which he retired after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. A young man with a family and beloved by his students and faculty alike, Pausch entitled his lecture, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” He spoke for 120 minutes with infectious, gleeful energy about his childhood, the achievement of his own dreams, and how to enable others to achieve theirs. His skills as a caring, inventive teacher were evident throughout the lecture, and I would say he is the kind of instructor we would all wish to have. Randy combined the use of humorous props with imaginative approaches to exhort us to break through the “brick walls” that hold us back, to always have fun in what we do, and to live life now. This was an inspirational talk, not at all morose, but, of course, quite moving. I accessed this lecture via http://www.thelastlecture.com/ from which point you can select several means to view it. I watched it by Google video, and this worked very well. You can even use the pause button and come back to it later. Randy Pausch’s recently released book, The Last Lecture, builds on his lecture and is available at Bernardsville Public Library in both audio CD and book format.