Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

I just watched Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" on youtube. Randy Pausch is a 47 year old, father of three, professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Last fall he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given 3-6 months to live. He gave a speech at Carnegie Mellon's graduation ceremony only 5 days ago. He still looks and sounds great.

His youtube lecture can be seen here, but let it be known that it's a little over an hour long. My head is still swimming with all he said, but one great thought of his is that he can't control the cards he's dealt, but how he plays the hand. How very true!

As I've mentioned here before, every single day I still think about having cancer. I keep hoping that the thoughts will cut back to maybe every other day, then eventually just a couple of times a week, but for now, it's still every day. Randy's attitude is absolutely AMAZING and so many things he said will be popping in and out of my mind for days.

Another thing I got out of his talk was to look for the best in people.

Sometimes I come across staff members or (yikes!) even students who are difficult to like. I try to like them, and in some cases, my feelings toward them eventually change. However, now I'm wondering if I give them all enough time. Maybe I don't.

There might be people out there who have that special quality buried deep within themselves and I've given up on them too soon.

This is definitely something I want to work on.

Like I said, my head is swimming with all the things he said, and I plan on watching the lecture again.

I love his passion.