Pausch's Final Lecture Illustrated Life's Many Lessons

How does one prepare for death once it's been determined by a litany of doctors and testing? Does the fight end or a new battle begin? According to the late Randy Pausch's book The Last Lecture, the fighting should never stop regardless of a dire outcome such as terminal cancer.

The word "terminal" can be defined differently for many. One definition could be one's death sentence because the story has just about ended. For others, that death sentence was the last thing needed to live life to the fullest. Since time was of the essence, society's traditions and restrictions were thrown out the window. Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor, was the latter of the two. Once he received his diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, Pausch went on the offensive to prepare his family and himself for his pending death.

Lecture accounted in detail Pausch's journey from diagnosis to the conclusion of his preparation. Instead of quietly waiting for the end, he was offered to give the last lecture of the year by Carnegie Mellon University, which he gave on September 18, 2007 to about 400 people. His family initially questioned Pausch's motives for participating in what would really be his last lecture instead of spending all his time with his kids. Pausch explained in the book that the lecture "was for my kids." His three children needed a way to remember their father, which enforced to Pausch that the lecture was a good idea to leave nothing unsaid.

The crux of Pausch's lecture, and book, was to realize the power of childhood dreams. Don't ignore them until it's too late to pursue or change them in any way. Another important piece of advice Pausch gave was to prepare the family legally and emotionally through legal documents as well as long delayed family trips. The lecture and book both concluded with an image of Pausch holding his children smiling profusely. That unforgettable image is seared into the brains of everyone and is displayed on the back of the book to drive home the fragileness of life's pleasurable moments. The photo was a reminder that love was the best medicine when science had failed completely.

With the help of Jeffrey Zaslow, Pausch told his life story as well as additional antidotes to help his family and friends remember him by. Lecture's prose and style remained consistently potent throughout the book even when talking about trivial matters that gave Pausch pause, such as a good customer service experience at Disneyworld. The book excelled at illustrating its primary message to make the most of life before time runs out. Pausch allowed the book to focus on his primary passion: his wife and his children. Pictures of a happy family spending time together floated through the chapters about his bonding time with his sons and a fondness of having a little girl. Laughter was easily emitted when Pausch talked of his romantic comedy like struggle to get his wife, Jai, to be with him. The irony of the longtime bachelor was suddenly a changed man and the woman headed for the hills. Pausch allowed the book's tone to be flexible between comedy for the light moments and drama for the more serious subject matter, which didn't hinder the quality of the book at all.

Unfortunately, Lecture's pacing was so reader friendly that only disbelieve remained once the book finished. Disbelieve that the 206 pages felt like only an introduction instead of the end of the book and a life. Pausch's journey showed how pity and sadness needed to be removed from the equation in order to accept his death. He allowed himself some time for sadness, but not too much to waste any time preparing his lecture. His focus was on giving as much love as he could muster to his family when he still had the time and strength to do so.

In the end, Pausch won the battle of getting his message across, but ended up losing the war on July 25^th. As time goes on, his words will live on for future generations to learn about. Let's hope a lesson will be learned from Pausch's memorable Last Lecture.