Blog Post # 7

"Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture" was the most inspirational videos I have ever seen. Prior to this lecture Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was told by doctors that he had about 3 to 6 months left to live. Randy begins his lecture telling the audience that he is not going to talk about cancer or being upset that he is soon going to pass away soon. Rather, he is going to talk about achieving your childhood dreams. Pausch breaks the speech up into three parts:childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and lessons learned. Each of these topics are so important in realizing that it is not too late or impossible to fulfill your childhood dreams.
Pausch gives us a list of his childhood dreams ranging from wining oversized stuffed animals, being Captain Kirk, and being a Disney imagineer. Randy talks about how he accomplished almost every childhood dream he ever had. He talks about the brick walls he ran into and how they were important in how he reached his goals and made him the man he was today. In fact, there were many brick walls in his past that arose in his past that could have stopped him in his tracks. Instead of giving up hope he took those obstacles and learned how to overcome them and make his dream come true. Watching the lecture I saw many of my own brick walls that arose in my past and I hope to revisit those dreams and try a different approach to making my own dreams come true.
The second section of the lecture was enabling the dreams of others. For ten years Randy has changed countless of student's lives with helping them realize their childhood dreams and making them come true. Pausch been fortunate enough in his live to have met a countless number of people who have been influential in his own life. He gives his listeners much of the advice that has been given to him. My favorite part of the lecture was when he talked about the course he taught Building Virtual Worlds. He had the students work on projects with virtual reality and they were able to realize their own childhood dreams and apply them to work. Many of his students were able to continue on and use the knowledge they learned from him and have very successful careers. Pausch was truly an inspiration.
The last part of his lecture was really heartbreaking for me. He summed up all of the great works he has ever done in telling the listeners what he has learned from everything. He truly wanted to change peoples lives and I believe he has changed more than he will ever know. He seemed to have a great grasp of life and it just broke my heart to know that his life was cut short from such an awful disease. The advice that he gave can reach to any generation. He made it very clear that it is NEVER to late to revisit you childhood dreams and make them come true. At the end he told the audience that the lecture was for his three children. He was such an inspiration and I hope to never forget the message he was teaching in his lecture.