Professor Gives His Last Lesson On Life

Obituary Guide dot com, September 26, 2007

David McConkey

A news story currently circulating through the Internet is an inspiring story of a short, but very full, life.

It is the story of a professor, Dr. Randy Pausch, who, at age 46, faces death soon from incurable pancreatic cancer. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the news report describes his final good-bye lecture.

"What he was there to discuss was how to fulfill your childhood dreams, and the lessons he had learned on his life's journey," reported the article. "When he was a boy, Dr. Pausch said, he had a concrete set of dreams: He wanted to experience the weightlessness of zero gravity; he wanted to play football in the NFL; he wanted to write an article for the World Book Encyclopedia ("You can tell the nerds early on," he joked); he wanted to be Captain Kirk from "Star Trek"; and he wanted to work for the Disney Co.

"In the end, he got to tackle all of them, he said -- even if his football accomplishments fell somewhere short of the NFL . . .

"His wife and children, he said, 'mean everything to me. They give a purpose to life and a depth of joy that no job - and I've had some of the most awesome jobs in the world - can begin to provide' . . ."

Read the full article "Carnegie Mellon University Professor Gives His Last Lesson on Life."

Watch a video of excerpts from Dr. Pausch's farewell lecture.