Professors are sometimes invited to give a “last lecture”, sharing their thoughts and knowledge as if it were the last opportunity they would have to speak to their students. When Randy Pausch, a 47-year-old computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, took the podium on 18 September 2007, he was acutely aware that this really was his last lecture. He had earlier been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and had only a few months to live.
On that September day over thirteen years ago, a full house of students, colleagues, friends and family laughed along with Pausch (some were moved to tears) as he talked about achieving childhood dreams and enabling the dreams of others. The speech was so filled with the essence of the man—his enthusiasm, humour and sincerity—that it spawned a best-seller, The Last Lecture, which in addition to the lecture contains anecdotes and gleaming pearls of wisdom from his life and experience. In the vein of Tuesdays with Morrie, this slim volume is not about dying, but about living.
Growing up in an era when men set foot on the Moon amid the ferocious space race, Pausch had had some big dreams: floating in zero gravity, playing in the National Football League, authoring an entry in the World Book Encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk in Star Trek, winning giant stuffed animals and becoming a Disney Imagineer. In The Last Lecture, he walks us through how he got over the obstacles—the “brick walls”—that stood in the way of reaching his dreams with sheer perseverance and hard work. Pausch believed that the brick walls are not there to keep us out, but “to give us a chance to show how badly we want something”. All his life, he had never lost sight of his goals and he fulfilled most, if not all, of his childhood dreams.
When he got older, Pausch found that “enabling the dreams of others is more fun”. What profession is more suitable for helping others work towards their dreams than teaching? Pausch’s idea of education was to help students to be more self-reflective, recognise their genuine abilities and flaws and realise what impression they are making on others. One problem he saw in the education system was that “there is too much stroking and too little real feedback.” The stories about how he inspired students throughout the years and also about his unconventional teaching methods are riveting and refreshing. He helped students to realise their dreams and they are now paying it forward.
Towards the end of the book, Pausch summarises his philosophy of life in chapters titled “Earnest Is Better Than Hip”, “Don’t Complain, Just Work Harder”, “Don’t Obsess Over What People Think”, and “Look for the Best in Everybody”, etc. They may sound like clichés on a greeting card, but Pausch tells heartwarming and sometimes funny life stories that give these homespun truths weight and substance. In the end, the exhortations do not fall flat. And as Pausch puts it, “the reason clichés are repeated so often is because they’re so often right on the money.”
Throughout the book, what radiates from the narrative is an amazingly upbeat spirit that evokes a sense of the celebration of life. Here was a man who had everything to live for: a fulfilling job, a loving marriage and three adorable children, the oldest just turned six. And all of a sudden, he found himself confronting his own mortality. Yet there was nothing maudlin or self-pitying about Pausch. He didn’t see his struggle with pancreatic cancer as unfair, just unlucky. He was even grateful for having advance notice that he was dying, allowing him to prepare his family for a life without him. In the “Final Remarks”, the book gives a poignant account of how Pausch prepared keepsakes for the children to remember him by—leaving letters, making videos, giving them unforgettable experiences—while staring death in the face. This book arose out of a father’s effort to preserve for his children the stories and lessons that he held dear in his heart—lessons he would not be around long enough to teach them in person as they tread through life.
Three months after the book was published, Randy Pausch passed away. But to this day his legacy and inspiration live on. In the end, what was meant as a life guide to his children has touched people around the world.
