The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch Gives Life Lessons in His Final Days

At the start of his lecture, Randy Pausch, with little ceremony, acknowledges "the elephant in the room." In his case, the unspeakable is what brought him here to speak; the unspeakable is his cancer. Randy Pausch is a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. He is 47, a devoted husband, and a father to three children, ages 2, 3, and 6. In August of 2007, Randy was told that his pancreatic cancer had spread, and he had three to six months more to live.

Carnegie Mellon once held a lecture series in which professors would give a "last lecture," a lecture filled with life lessons, words of wisdom that they would want to impart if it were their last chance to do so. Randy delivered his last lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" in September, and his 74 minute lecture is heartbreaking and uplifting, devastating and inspiring, and vitally important in its simplicity.

The dreams of Randy as a 12 year-old (self-admittedly doomed to be a computer geek), were fantastic, but as ordinary as the dreams of any 12 year-old. Who didn't dream of being able to fly, playing in the NFL, or working for Disney? But as the rest of us look back with a shrug and a chuckle at our improbable childhood dreams, Randy recounts how with the advice of amazing mentors, the support of his parents, and an unrivaled impish persistence, he actually achieved all of his childhood dreams, even flying.

Randy's last lecture is a gift to all those who listen. It is a gift of a man giving all of his wisdom, all of the lessons he learned in his 47 years, to those of us who have totally forgotten our childhood dreams and are left wondering, "What's missing in my life?" But the most poignant gift is the way in which his lecture is delivered. Randy is direct, honest, humorous, and sincere. He laughs, tells embarrassing stories, does push-ups. The man on stage is not a man counting his days to live, it is a man full of life, who even at the end, is still giving.

It is hard for even a complete stranger to listen to Randy's lecture and not think of the perennial question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Randy Pausch is one of the good guys. The end of his life comes much too soon and his wife and children will be deprived of amazing person that would undoubtedly make them smile and laugh at every opportunity, and pass down advice and life lessons that truly would make dreams come true.

But Randy did all that with his lecture. His gift to all of us was actually a gift to his children.