“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” —Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
It is not unusual for professors to be asked to give a “last lecture”–one where they consider their own mortality and reflect on what matters most. For Randy Pausch when he was asked to give a “last lecture”, it was not theoretical. He had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and knew he did not have long to live. When Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon gave his last lecture, it was not about dying. It was about living and making the most of the time we have–realizing that we may have less time than we think.
Pausch’s lecture is filled with humor, insight, and wisdom. Publishing the lecture is a gift to all of us who were not in the lecture hall that day and is a tribute to a fine man who died much too young.
Content Advisory: Terminal illness, death