Summary Of The Last Lecture By Randy Pausch

In the book, The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch is dying from pancreatic cancer and is only given a few months to live. With the time he has left, he makes it his priority to spend it wisely. Pausch states that he has an engineering problem and he’s going to do his best with his limited resources. His engineering problem is his health. Even though his body is failing him, he is going to push through and overcome the new obstacles he is facing in life. Pausch is also faced with “brick walls” but he doesn’t give up when things get tough. He uses the brick walls as an opportunity to show how badly he wants whatever is blocking his path. My “engineering problem” is being able to afford college for as long as I can. I’d say that my “brick walls”

In Randy Pausch 's "Last Lecture," Randy discusses how he achieved all of his childhood dreams throughout his life and how he helped others achieve their dreams. Often times, childhood dreams are forgotten due to life stressors, other opportunities and interests that come along and, ultimately, believing that those childhood dreams are unachievable. However, this was not the case for Randy Pausch. Randy created a list of things that he desired to experience throughout his lifetime, and through persistency, acceptance and some modification, he was able to complete his list. Similar to many children 's "being an astronaut" dream, Randy had a couple dreams that seemed impossible. These seemingly impossible dreams on Randy 's list included: "being in zero gravity," "playing in the NFL," and "being Captain Kirk." While Randy never received the opportunity to play football for the NFL, his understanding and lessons learned from his football experiences made up for this shortcoming. Nonetheless, Randy was able to conquer all of his other dreams. With each dream Randy discusses, he explains each "brick wall" he hit along his way and what he did to get around these walls.

You would think a man dying of cancer would not be so happy and willing to spend the last few months of his life giving a lecture. But, Randy Pausch, who has 10 tumors in his liver, does not want people to pity him for having cancer. Rather, he wants to teach people how to follow their childhood dreams. Looking at the seven elements of communication we see how he is so effective in his last lecture.

“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” The words of the great Jimmy Valvano. Jimmy was a Men’s Basketball Coach at N.C. State University. He is one of the greatest coaches of all time. But he is also the man who delivered the “Never Give Up” speech at the ESPY Awards in 1993. This has inspired so many people. It’s the thought of Cancer that often brings Jimmy into mind. Stuart Scott is also very inspirational when it comes to cancer. A real inspiration is Mrs. Spatz. She has beat cancer 4 times. Over and over again, she has fought and beat cancer. She is now a teacher at Wyndcroft Private School in Pottstown. Although she is my mother, she creates inspiration for many

Dr. Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie-Mellon University who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, educated me with his powerful inspirational message. Dr. Randy Pausch, 47 years old man who has terminal cancer with a life expectancy of a few months gave me a life lesson. He thought me how to achieve dreams also how to face death. Being diagnosed with any kinds of cancer is devastating and despairing, but for him it was opposite; he was happy and cognitively healthy during his final lecture at Carnegie-Mellon University. He even said, “If I don 't seem as depressed or morosed as I should be, sorry to disappoint you” (Video) and continued lecturing. He hadn’t show any sadness or depression during his lecture

Even after Pausch was was given his diagnosis he stayed optimistic, “My personal take on optimism is that as a mental state, it can enable you to do tangible things to improve your physical state. If you’re optimistic, you’re better able to endure brutal chemo, or keep searching for late-breaking medical treatments.” (Pausch, 183) Pausch felt that by remaining positive he would be able to handle the physical pain that comes with cancer, and would have a better chance of beating it or living longer. Pausch’s incredible optimism helped him, and his family, stay strong throughout his limited time left. Because he was able to stay positive, Pausch was able to make the most of the time he had remaining and used it to make memories with his children, get everything settled for his wife and get to spend his last months living life with his family instead of just preparing for death. Pausch’s unimaginable optimism was inspiring throughout The Last Lecture and has inspired me to have a more positive outlook in my own life. In my everyday life if I spend less time complaining and being upset, and focus on being positive and all that I have to be thankful for, my life will be more meaningful. As Pausch said, “We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier.”

Talking aloud about a terminal illness makes it more real due to the power of spoken word.

In the story of “Confronting Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: My Father's Death” by Susan Wolf, she talks about the difficulties of her dad fighting cancer, and his final days. “Her father had always said that he would want everything, even in a persistent vegetative state (Wolf, 2008). However, his body reaches the point and the daily fight, pain and the struggle he was enduring just to stay alive was more painful and draining than it was really worth. He always told his daughter to fight until the very end and do what was necessary to do so. However, there is only so much pain your body can endure and even though he has always said to fight until the end. Effort They have reached the end of their road and should not have to suffer any longer if they so choose. After all the pain, they have been through and knowing that they are closer to death with each passing day, it should be their choice to end their suffering sooner and pass on peacefully without the suffering. In addition, let them quality of life the person to slip peacefully into the next life without pain and suffering.

Image yourself laying in a hospital bed with a terminal illness that has taken over your whole body slowly. You are in a room that has nothing in it but the bed, a bathroom, and maybe a dresser if you are lucky for your belongings. This room is nothing like yours at home. The walls are very depressing with no pictures of family that bring back the amazing memories you’ve shared in the past. The furniture in the room is not that special chair that your great grandmother gave you that you have had for years, but is a chair that many strangers have sat in. You are hooked up to many loud machines. Nurses and doctors constantly coming in to record your vitals and give you your medication. You can no longer eat on your own, or use the restroom on

“My Glioblastoma is going to kill me, I’ve discussed with many experts how I would die from it, and it’s a terrible, terrible way to die. Being able to choose to go with dignity is less terrifying. There is not a cell in my body that is suicidal. I want to live, I wish there was a cure for my disease, but there’s not.”

Terminal illness is a huge threat to the continued existence of anybody that values their lives. Coping or

“’So what’s your story?’” she then then replies “’I already told you my story. I was diagnosed when-‘” He interrupts and says “’No, not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies, passions, etcetera… Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who becomes their disease. I know so many people like that. It’s disheartening. Like cancer is in the growth business, right? The taking-people-over business. But surely you haven’t let it succeed prematurely’” (Green, 32).

Throughout the entirety of his memoir, Randy Pausch, a man dying of pancreatic cancer, is extremely upbeat and positive. He never pretends that his illness isn’t there, but also never dwells on the fact that it is. His doctor sums this attitude up perfectly by calling him “his poster boy for ‘the healthy balance between optimism and realism’ ” (Pausch 183). Being able to have a positive attitude is the most prominent and, to me, the most important lesson that The Last Lecture teaches. Randy’s understanding of optimism vs. pessimism comes simply from the childhood story, Winnie the Pooh: ”Each of us must decide: Am I a fun-loving Tigger or am I a sad-sack Eeyore?” (Pausch 180). Randy is clearly a Tigger, and I can very easily identify with that part of him. I am often too optimistic, to the point where I can be perceived as slightly obnoxious. But I’ve always lived by the “fake it ‘till you make it” idiom, meaning that when I truly feel bad about a situation I’m in, I can make myself feel better just by acting like things are okay. This doesn’t mean I am blind to real problems, I just do what I can to make them easier to deal with. I believe that Randy had similar beliefs regarding his cancer, as his “...personal take on optimism is that as a mental state, it can enable you to do tangible things to improve your physical state” (Pausch 183). All of the other ideals that Dr. Pausch lived by are important, but I think that his positivity is truly what enabled him to achieve his dreams and live a full

A terminal illness can generally be defined as an illness for which there is no cure and the prognosis is fatal. We all know that we will die someday but most of us think of this as some distant time. For individuals who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, though, they must face the reality of their own mortality and are forced to re-evaluate their lives and must make choices about how to best spend the remainder of their days. For the purposes of this paper I am focusing on the cultural differences between how American society copes with a terminal illness and how Jewish American’s cope. Coping with a terminal illness is not unique to any particular culture. How an individual reacts and prepares for their own inevitable

One of the many of the world's problems is sickness, but some diseases have no cure which can result in death. Cancer is a code we just can’t seem to crack and it has taken hundreds of thousands of lives. Everyone knows of someone who has died of or had cancer in their life. It’s a hard sickness to beat but many strong people do beat it, some being children. I have personally seen my family members go through this and of course, some didn’t make it out alive. If you have seen anyone who has cancer, you’ll see how it can take over your body, how that person doesn’t even look like themselves anymore.