Revisiting "The Last Lecture" in current times.

Points to Ponder:

The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. – Randy Pausch

Story line: It was summer of 1991. We were returning from vacation from Pacific Northwest. Traffic had come to a stand still on the Highway 505. After a while, traffic started moving very slowly and we reached the location of the traffic jam. Horrific accident, worst I have witnessed in my life; I still shiver thinking about it. Cars were slowing down or had completely stopped to witness the terrible human tragedy. After passing the scene, people seemed stunned silent in their cars and traffic was moving way below the speed limit. But after about 20 minutes cars gradually started picking up speed and very soon it was back to “let the old ways roll.”  Many cars started speeding way above the speed limit. Since that day, I have carefully witnessed the movement of the cars while crossing accidents on the road. Unfortunately the behavior I witnessed on that fateful day in 1991 continues to repeat.

During this Pandemic, I think often about this experience. In the beginning months of Covid, there was overwhelming load of information circulating amongst well-meaning friends and social networks about; human connections, respect for nature, environment, love for all living beings, “essential workers”, simpler life, prevention focus and more. I can go on and on about the reflections and realizations that made us think and act deeper. People seemed to recognize that “The things that matter most should not be put at the mercy of the things that matter least.” This event brought many people closer, made environment cleaner and raised prevention awareness.

Reflection: However as the Pandemic shows the sign of subsiding, my mind keeps drifting to that day in 1991. 

As the old saying goes, “Things that come to you come at a time when you need them the most to go to the next level”. Few days ago, I remembered a gift I had received a decade ago from a friend from Costa Rica. It was the book called: The Last Lecture by Professor Randy Pausch. Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had few months to live. He delivered his “Last Lecture” titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” in September 2007. The Last Lecture talk series was based on the theme “What wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?”

The book is worth reading not only to reflect on what world went through in past 18 months but also to shape bright wonderful future for us. Next month happens to be the 13^th anniversary of Randy Pausch’s last day on earth. (July 25, 2008).

The shorter video on the top of this article covers some key messages from his book. For people interested in learning further, below is the link to his full lecture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo&feature=youtu.be

 “It’s not about how to achieve your dreams, it’s about how to lead your life…If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.”

 

Comments

[Oregonian]

Very good one...timely as we are going through pandemic and reflecting what's next👍😀

[One who gave the book 😊]

Really great reflection

[Sam]

Wow!! So much wisdom and truth in a short excerpt. Be it about parenting, or just having great values in life that benefits others around you. Thanks for bringing this back to our attention. Will watch with family over the weekend. Amazing how much clarity he had in all his statements. Was hard to watch without having tears in my eyes. One thing that stuck me was the comment of we can choose to be Tigger or Eyore. Simple but profound truth!

[sujat]

".... it’s about how to lead your life…If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.”

:)

[sujat]

Life is hardly about dreams anyway; they are just an incidental happening.

On a subtler note, life is about coming free of dreams.... or call it ambitions.

[Young and Restless]

The wisdom I would try and impart - live your life with no regrets. That’s not to say that we’ll always make the right decision. Coz we won’t. We will continue to make mistakes. But regardless of the decisions we make, we must learn to live a life without regrets. If it was a wrong decision, we learn from it, make sure we won’t make the same mistakes again and move on. I’ve made a lot of stupid mistakes in my life thus far, but none that made me regret. Definitely made me learn but none that I’ve regretted. ☺️

[Thank You from Taipei]

So encouraging...

[Fr Santosh]

Thank you Anand for this beautiful reflection. I read the article at Wall Street Journal about the book, in 2005 or so, then watched the whole video, and had read the book. It is one of my favorites.🙏

[PE-Canada]

Very touching and inspiring.

[BQN Original]

Very nice. A recharge i needed today

[Roy]

Very inspiring uplifting!!

[Shardamandir friend]

Excellent reading! We have short term memory and then we are back to our old normal.

[Carol]

Another poignant example of goodness in the great American spirit. Thanks, Anand, for bringing back this video that I had watched back in the year it was made. Even more relevant that at the time we had just visited Disneyland's California Adventure and watched the live Alladin show multiple times cuz it was so good, not knowing the magic carpet in the live show was made possible by the genius of Randy Pausch.
Towards the end of the video, Mr. Pausch was trying hard to hold back his years. How could we the audience not do the same?!
People vs things: remember, they're just things...

[HUMBLE WARRIOR]

THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS INSIGHTFUL WAY TO LIVE LIFE... THIS GENTLEMAN NAILED IT

[Sharad]

The idea of karma is thousands of years old, and simply put is that what we do and put out into the world comes back to us. Should you let the idea of karma guide your actions? You bet. Thanks, Anand.