Thoughts From A Dying Man

Randy Pausch set the tone early on yesterday at his farewell lecture at Carnegie Mellon University.

"If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry todisappoint you," said Dr. Pausch, a 46-year-old computer scienceprofessor who has incurable pancreatic cancer.

"What we're not going to talk about today," he continued, "iscancer, because I've spent a lot of time talking about that ... andwe're not going to talk about things that are even more important, likemy wife and [three preschool] kids, because I'm good, but I'm not goodenough to talk about that without tearing up."

What he was there to discuss was how to fulfill your childhood dreams, and the lessons he had learned on his life's journey.

"I find that I am completely positive," he wrote. "The only times I cryare when I think about the kids -- and it's not so much the 'Gee, I'llmiss seeing their first bicycle ride' type of stuff as it is a sense ofunfulfilled duty -- that I will not be there to help raise them, andthat I have left a very heavy burden for my wife."

His wife and children, he said, "mean everything to me. They give apurpose to life and a depth of joy that no job [and I've had some ofthe most awesome jobs in the world] can begin to provide.

Read the article Here.  Thanks to Metro Dad for finding this one.