Randy Pausch is a Professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, where they have an academic tradition called "the last lecture". The idea is that if, hypothetically, you were going to die, this lecture would be your last and final lecture to your students. The twist here is that Randy Pausch is actually going to die. After enduring all of the treatments possible, his pancreatic cancer has metastasized, and he has about 12 tumors invading his pancreas, liver...well, you get the idea.
His doctors have told the young father of 3 that he has no further medical options and although Dr. Pausch seems to be the image of fitness and health, he only has months to live. His last lecture is not a dress rehearsal. Some of you may have actually seen it, as he's appeared on Oprah to deliver the same lecture he delivered at Carnegie-Mellon. If you havne't seen it, you can find it here.
As I listened to Dr. Pausch, what impressed me most was that he went out of his way to state, "...if I'm not morose enough for you, I'm sorry to disappoint. But I don't choose to be an object of pity." Later in his lecture, Dr. Pausch continues, "You can choose to take your finite time and energy and effort and you can spend it complaining or you can spend it playing the game (of life) harder." Still later, he adds, "I am dying soon, and I am choosing to have fun today, tomorrow and every day I have left."
The randomness of health has robbed this man of much of his future, but he refuses to let it rob him of his right to choose how he lives his life each day. This isn't a question of whether or not we're willing to see the glass as half-empty or half-full. Randy Pausch is telling us that the choices we make after seeing the glass are the choices that will continue to determine our quality of life. And that's true whether we have days, weeks, months or years to live. It's as true for those directly affected by a chronic illness as it is true for those who care for them and are indirectly affected. (Truth be told, it's as true for those of us who are completely healthy and have no caregiving responsibilities at all!)
I'm the first to admit that I've found myself sometimes overwhelmed by the continuing progression of Jeanne's symptoms. I probably deal with more stress than I should and sometimes more guilt than I'm entitled to. Randy Pausch has just served me with a reminder that I still have choices to make each and every day. And they are the choices that will determine whether or not I've chosen to live that day in the fullest way possible. And if someone like Randy Pausch chooses to maintain that outlook on life, how can the rest of us even pretend to have an excuse?
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