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Yesterday, the world cried. It has lost one of the wisest teachers in modern times. Randy Pausch, a computer science professor from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) gave his final goodbye to family, friends and well-wishers.

Pausch rose to stardom in September 2007 through a hypothetical lecture series that CMU encourages its professors to share their wisdom if they have only one last lecture to give. Sadly, for Pausch, it was a real encounter. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Many of you outside the United States may not have heard about him, but in the last year or so, Pausch has inspired millions of people to rethink about their purpose in life. In his “The Last Lecture” talk, he shared about his childhood dreams, how he tackled them and what lessons he had learned along the way. His speech challenged his audience to recollect their childhood dreams; dreams that were once held so dearly, but for one reason or another, they have been shelved. He reiterated his point by saying that “it is not the things we do in life that we regret on our deathbed, but it is the things we do NOT do that we regret.” He also encouraged parents to allow their children to build dreams and ambitions even if that meant having creative graffiti drawn on their bedroom walls.

Every man dies. Not every man really lives. Pausch certainly live his life to the fullest by achieving all his childhood dreams. He fulfilled his desire to be in zero-gravity. He authored an article in the World Book Encyclopedia. He won many big stuffed animals in amusement parks. He became an Imagineer at The Walt Disney Company. In his final days, he managed to accomplish his remaining “impossible” goals. He practiced with Pittsburgh Steelers and he became “Captain Kirk”. It is widely believed that Pausch is going to be in an upcoming “Star Trek” movie that is to be released in 2009. And as an added bonus, his testimony to congress about a push for cancer research earned him a U.S. congressional record just few weeks before his departure. Time Magazine named him as the Top 100 most influential people in 2008.

All in all, Pausch epitomized a person of relentless pursuit of his dreams. He demonstrated that no obstacle is too impossible to overcome. As he had famously quoted, “the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”

As a tribute to his legacy, let me share two of his most viral videos:

• The Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University
• Time Management at University of Virginia

I am convinced that Pausch’s speeches would motivate you to introspect yourselves with an old-age question, “How would you live differently if you know you are in your last chapter of your life?”

Please enjoy and pass it along with your love ones.

The Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University

Time Management at University of Virginia

Related Links to Professor Randy Pausch

• An Enduring Legacy - Carnegie Mellon University
• The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
• ABC News - Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
• The Last Lecture Video Expanded into a Bestselling Book
• Create a cure: The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
• Support Carnegie Mellon’s Randy Pausch Memorial Fund

Tags: Carnegie Mellon, CMU, dreams, dying professor, Last Lecture, Randy Pausch

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at 2:45 am and is filed under Biography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.