The Last Lecture...

What will you want to do if you get to know that you have very little time left to live ????

A series known as THE LAST LECTURE, was organised every year, where a Carnegie Mellon Professor was asked to deliver, what would hypothetically be a last speech to the students, before dying. Randy Poush, a father of three small kids and a professor at Carnegie was asked for the same but the only difference was, he dint need to imagine he was going to face the inevitable death, in fact he was. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was detected with around 10 tumors in his lever. The Doctors had predicted 3 to 6 months of good health left, a months before the lecture.

The last lecture he delivered, was entitled as "ACHIEVING YOUR CHILDHOOD DREAMS".

The speech was not focused on death but LIVING EACH MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE AS IF ITS THE LAST. It is as inspirational as Randy himself was. He shared everything about how was his upbringing, what were his dreams, how he worked for his dreams and achieved them all. He shared what he learnt from his life, and how he made others to learn those things and helped them achieve their dreams. He shared some beliefs, what could be called the Mantras of Life. Being a Disney Imagineer himself, he taught his students the fundamentals of group work, Value of Dreaming Big, Art of apologizing, Results of at least giving a try by just asking for something that you badly desire, Never give up Attitude in life and many more. He cited several examples from his life, to make his point for everything he said.

The speech was not only for the ones present in the auditorium including his dear wife, but his kids. He desperately wished them to know that how their father was and how much he loved them. He wished, they must know that he will love them till the are alive and will always support whatever they choose to do in their life, if they want it passionately and work for it.

He said "EXPERIENCE IS WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU WANTED".

It never seemed that he was a man with 10 tumors in his liver, with the way he was carrying himself and his family. He said "WE CANNOT CHANGE THE CARDS WE ARE DEALT,JUST HOW WE PLAY THE HAND". He was doing the same. He was busy collecting memories for his kids so that they know how their father used to live with them. The only thing eating him up was the thought of his kids without a father more than he wont be with them as a father. He believed Jai, his wife who supported him every time, will tell the kids about him and will bring them up in a great manner.

He treated every hurdle in his life as a brick wall, which made him passionate to break it soon. According to him, "THE BRICK WALLS ARE THERE TO GIVE US A CHANCE TO KNOW HOW BADLY WE WANT SOMETHING. IT IS THERE TO STOP THOSE PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT IT BADLY ENOUGH".

The zeal, attitude, passion, and art of living in his life can easily be felt reading this book and watching the video of his last lecture. It really is inspirational, a book that must be read.... or a video that must be watched...

The video can be watched at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

He lost the battle with pancreatic cancer on 25th July 2008 after his lecture in September 2007....