Michael Commons Thanika Ruaprakon วิชัย พิมพ์ทอง มูลนิธิสายใยแผ่นดิน
Have you asked yourself what you would do, what you would think if you knew you only had a couple months more to live? Looking back at your life now, do you think you have made good of your time?
In such a context, Professor Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and told he may live only 3-6 months longer, had the chance to give his last lecture at the university where he studied and taught. This is the material of “The Last Lecture,” which can be viewed as a Youtube video, read as a transcript, or read as a book, now translated into many languages.
In Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture, his presentation is not about death or the spiritual journey after death, but very much about life and what it means to have lived and have found meaning and joy in life. He recounts his life and his dreams and how he has gone on to fulfill almost all of his childhood dreams. His story, the story of his life, is also one of lessons learned and how those lessons have then enabled him to do what he has.
His life as told is at least an inspiration. Both in his life and in his presentation, one does not see remorse or regret, but one who has never been scared to dream and even more so never seen a brick wall as an impenetrable barrier. He has believed in himself and that there is a way when one has a dream and one perseveres and he has gone on to jump over many such brick walls. For him the brick walls are but a point to show that one needs to try harder, to try a new way. Besides living his dreams, in his work as a professor, he has helped many to realize their dreams, to go beyond their limitations, to go one step farther than they might have imagined. As a professor of virtual reality, a field where the line between dreams and reality is best crossed frequently, his life story as well teaches us to cross this line, for by crossing that line what is possible becomes a little wider than we might have know or believed.
If you wish to review a life well lived and a life well learned, Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture, will more than satisfy. One may also easily take away a sense of reflecting upon one’s own life, what one has done and what one can do with one’s time left to live. Although we may not know as Randy did, that he had no more than 6 months to live, whether we have 60 more years, 6 more years, 6 more months, or 6 more days, looking at one’s life in such a sense and reading or listening to the words of Randy Pausch are sure to inspire one to challenge life’s barriers are reach for one’s dreams, seeing all one can do when one values and lives life in its fullest.
