Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

“The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dream” is the title of Randy Pausch famous speech he gave on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University, a month after his pancreatic cancer had blown to a terminal stage, his doctor giving him 3 to 6 months of good health left. To those who are not familiar with this extraordinary man, Randolph Frederick “Randy” Pausch was a professor on computer science and human-computer interaction and design. Who became an accidental celebrity after he delivered his last lecture dedicated to his three children. The “last lecture” is an academic tradition at CMU for professor to hypothetically impart their last words of wisdom if they were going to die but in his case it was literal.

His last lecture gained a lot of attention from media and became a phenomenal hit in YouTube, gaining million of views in the first month after its delivery. October of that same year, he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, increasing his popularity. His life and his lecture were also featured in ABC (American Broadcasting Company). He gave lectures to other university and testified in congress for improve cancer research. He could have devoted his last days with his family but he chose to share himself to the rest of the world and did what he do best and that is teaching, this time teaching about life.

His last lecture was made into a book entitled, of course, “The Last Lecture” which he co-authored with Jeff Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal reporter. The book hit the best seller mark by April of 2008. I have my own copy of his book. 

He died July 25, 2008, at the age of 47, leaving behind a legacy of a man who never faltered at the face of adversities not even with death waiting on his doorstep. His positive outlook on dealing with cancer is an inspiration to all those who are on the same boat, that life isn’t over until it is over.

I deliberately did not mention the content of his last lecture because I don’t want to spoil the fun to those who will receive this beautiful gift for the first time. Enjoy and be inspired by Randy Pausch’s last lecture and awaken your childhood dreams.

Here is the video link of Randy Pausch’s last lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo