Randy Pausch dies at age 47

If you have read through our forum, you might have seen the video by Randy Pausch, the professor at Carnegie Mellon University who did a speech and wrote a book called “The Last Lecture.”  I thought his talk was very inspiring, and heart wrenching.  I have his book, and recommend it to you.  We will be putting it up on Dadsworld.com under the book category soon.  Randy leaves behind a wife, 2 sons and a daughter.  He will be missed.

Randy reminded me that life is short.  If you have lofty aspirations, get at it.  Don’t save life up for something, act now.  My family is my life, and I make sure everyday that they know how much I love them.  I spend every minute I can with them, and enjoy what we have created together.

Thanks for reminding us all of what’s really important in life professor.  Let’s not let his lecture and message go without effect.  We can heed his words and make our lives (and in turn the world) a better place.  Let’s do that.

 Here is the dedication in Mr. Pausch’s book The Last Lecture:  “With thanks to my parents who allowed me to dream, and with hopes for the dreams my children will have.”

Here are a few quotes from his book:

-Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day because there’s no other way to play it.

-Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.

-No one is pure evil. Find the best in everybody. Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.

-Brick walls are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop people who don’t want it badly enough.

-It is not about achieving your dreams but living your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.

-We can’t change the cards we’re dealt, just how we play the hand. If I’m not as depressed as you think I should be, I’m sorry to disappoint you.

Donations can be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, 2141 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 7000, El Segundo, CA 90245, or to Carnegie Mellon’s Randy Pausch Memorial Fund (www.cmu.edu/giving/pausch), which supports the university’s continued work on the Alice project.

Tags: , carnegie mellon, pancreatic cancer, randy pausch