Messer Leonardo da Vinci ... duly considering the certainty of death and the uncertainty of its time, has acknowledged and declared ... his testament and the declaration of his last will, as follows...
-- The Last Will and Testament of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1566
I have always admired the poetry of that line in Leonardo's Will. It certainly captures the situation of most mortals.
But what if the uncertainty was gone? What would you do if you knew you had six months to live? Would you run off to the Caribbean? Would you collapse into a never-ending pity party? Would you indulge yourself in the realm of the senses? Would it be all about you? In our current society that is how most folks would react. Fortunately for us, Randy Pausch is not like most folks.
Randy Pausch doesn't know when his ticket will be punched anymore than you or I do, but one thing is certain... he's in the express checkout lane. A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is never good. In an otherwise healthy 47 year-old man with a wife and three children, it's really doubleplus ungood. If that was all there was to the story, it would be tragic but not remarkable. However, every now and then through a lucky coincidence of talent, resources, insight, and will the story takes an unexpected turn. This is one of those happy coincidences.
Pausch is a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon. Those two words, "computer" and "science", probably conjure up some image of geeks with pocket protectors laboring over circuit boards with cans of Jolt Cola piling up in the background. Well, that's part of the story. But you might be surprised to learn the kid who always wanted to work for Disney grew up and along the way he got hold of some really cool toys. I'm talking about the kind that can transport you to worlds you could only imagine in your dreams.
That's what we're dealing with here... achieving your dreams. The cool stuff. Flying on a magic carpet. Exploring worlds underwater. Fighting Dragons. Changing the world one Whoop at a time.
Last fall, Pausch was scheduled to give what was known as "the Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon. It was a tradition there. Basically, senior faculty are invited to give a lecture they would give if they knew they only had six months to live. Well, true to form, Pausch was the first guy to give the lecture who really knew he only had six months to live. About a month before the lecture he was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. Talk about irony. And pressure.
What does a pioneering computer scientist at a major engineering institution who knows he is dying decide to share after he pares away all of the nonessential fluff? Surprise! The lecture wasn't about dying. It was about living! The lecture was called Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.
If you've ever had a childhood dream you put on a shelf and forgot about, then this one's for you. If you know people who still have childhood dreams you can help them achieve, this one's for both of you. You see, here's a guy who achieved his childhood dreams (most of them anyway) and he shares the secrets so you too can be in his shoes some day (minus the pancreatic cancer). Even if you are allergic to school, that's a class worth taking.
I'm including links here in a couple of formats. If you want to save this to savor it later, here's a bookmark: http://youtube.com/...
If you can't wait and want to treat yourself now, here's the YouTube link:
I realize we are all busy chasing down something important and there's always time to investigate this later. If you believe that, let me just say it's easy to overlook the important stuff as we chase the next buck, or the next big thing. That's what makes Randy Pausch's message so important: We should never forget to chase our dreams. If you have forgotten, a good place to start remembering is the The Last Lecture Web Site.
I was born in 1960. When you're eight or nine years old, and look at the TV set, and men are landing on the Moon, anything is possible. And that is something we should not lose sight of: Inspiration and the permission to dream is huge.
If you've ever had a childhood dream you put on a shelf and forgot about, then this one's for you. If you know people who still have childhood dreams you can help them achieve, this one's for both of you. You see, here's a guy who achieved his childhood dreams (most of them anyway) and he shares the secrets so you too can be in his shoes some day (minus the pancreatic cancer). Even if you are allergic to school, that's a class worth taking.