Reflection of Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture”
Pennsylvania State University Berks Campus
The Last Lecture began as a good-bye speech, made by Randy Pausch, a 47 year old professor diagnosed with terminal cancer. His speech at Carnegie Melon University became an Internet phenomenon. It has also been published as a book. I really thoroughly enjoyed his Last Lecture speech. He had a lot of good talking points and brought up some new perspectives, or ways of looking at life situations that got me thinking. He talked a lot about his dreams when he was a child and was very humorous and inspirational throughout his speech. He also had a lot of quotes that I really enjoyed and they are what I want to focus on. “When you screw
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A statement that stuck out to me was that “people are more important than things.” This is an idea that seems to have been innate for me. Since I was young, I always cared a lot about the people in my life, and that has translated to how I am now. I value friendships so much. I believe that yes, you have your family and they should always be there and support you, but having friends creates such more stable foundation in the relationships that you have. You can make a lot of money and buy whatever you want, but money does not equate happiness. I appreciate the people who are in my life and all the experiences we have shared together, which I will continue to reminisce about and keep forever. Money or things could not give me all those experiences. Sometimes I feel like people are so driven by their need for a sense of achievement and wealth/power that they push people away and give up any chance of building their friendships and enjoying the fruits of life that you can only get through your interaction with people. These people just end up alone, and that is something I do not want to do. Randy Pausch was very successful at being able to always put people before things. “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you want” and “brick walls are there to show how much people want something,” we two of my most favorite quotes that came out of his speech. The more I reflected on these
“Hypothetically, if you knew you were going to die and you had one last lecture, what would you say to your students?” That is how Professor Randy Pausch, from Carnegie Mellon, began his last lecture, a speech entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” while in fact he was dying of Pancreatic Cancer. He knew he only had months left to live and put together this last lecture to read to his students. His lecture focuses in on points such as the importance of: making sincere apologies, not whining, being gracious and being humble. To stress his thoughts and views on life and following one’s dreams, Randy Pausch used a great amount of repetition, metaphors, allusion, humor, ethos, and pathos in his last lecture.
It is still so surreal to reflect back on my first semester as an incoming college student in the ENC1101 course, analyzing at my progression as a reader and writer in literacy. Since the first day of class I set in stone my goals for this class: receive a 4.0 GPA, develop my connecting theories skills in writing, and become more aware of objectives for each Unit throughout the course. All of these goals became achievements that not only make others proud but most importantly give me self pride. In order to earn the grades and achieve these goals, I went after every opportunity that I was given as an incoming college student, such as office hours and extra credit. By taking this course I have gained confidence with the utilization of literacy, and made an addition to my group of impactful literacy sponsors. Once students are finished with high school they assume that there is nothing else to learn beyond the stereotypical five paragraph essay, but they are so wrong. I was able to obtain so much knowledge about numerous course concepts from Writing about Writing, articles, and my professor. These concepts will carry on with me throughout a bright future of writing courses, job interviews, and any other skills that require literacy. The four outcomes listed below will help illuminate how I improved as a writer, by being a driven college student and going out of the way to earn my achievements in this course. In the first outcome I improved comprehending scholar texts,
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.
“Brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” This was the mantra Randy Pausch lived by in his terminating life. In his book, which I learned the quote from, he talked about many challenges he overcame throughout his life. The largest obstacle I have had to overcome is the challenge of being a part of many extracurricular activities while maintaining above average grades in my rigorous schedule throughout the years.
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
A seminar series titled “The Last Lecture” took place at Carnegie Mellon University. Professors were prompted to deliver lectures as if it was their last, while containing a “message of a lifetime”. Professor Randy Pausch delivered his speech titled “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” as a part of this seminar on September 18th, 2007, a time in which had just been given life-threatening news. It had recently been estimated by doctors that this was the last three to six months of his life. Instead of speaking as if he was hypothetically dying like his fellow professors, Pausch was in an extremely ironic situation, as for in his case he really was dying, of pancreatic
In The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, the reader learns about Mr. Pausch himself. The reader learns about his past, present, and his future. They also learn about what type of person Mr. Pausch was. The most important part that Mr. Pausch wanted his audience to remember his experiences that we may face, his advice, and his family.
One of my favorite quotes of him is "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for you
Great advice can change a life forever. In the speech “Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” by Randy Pausch, his good advice can change someone's life for the better and can have a positive impact on life. Pausch talks about his life and the struggles he faced throughout his life. He talks about the hardships of life as well as the remarkable moments worth remembering and the inspirational moments. Great advice can change a life forever.
The Last Lecture is a novel based on, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” This book engages the reader in his or her own way, but still keeps the plot personalized to the author, Randy Pausch, who was confronting his mortality through the harsh experience of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He was also a very successful computer scientist. The lecture presented to reader in the book is the lecture that Dr. Pausch gave his students four months before he died. He tells the reader about his childhood dreams and how he successfully achieved those dreams later in his life. He also spoke about his incredible scientific achievements that will keep the reader in awe. Each life lesson given, is based
The Last Lecture is a book written by and about the author Randy Pausch, who was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer whom had 3-6 months left to live. This book is based on his own perspectives and he shares with us what he feels is most important in life. In this book Mr. Pausch talks about a lecture he was asked to present called the last lecture for Carnegie Mellon, where he was a professor. He states in his book that “Professors in universities are often asked to present a lecture called “the last lecture”. They are told to imagine that their death is near, and that this lecture will be their last before their demise. They are asked what wisdom will they impart onto others if this was their last chance”. (Pausch, The last lecture,
If you were to vanish tomorrow, what wisdom would you impart to the world? The Last Lecture, a book co-written by professor Randy Pausch and Wall Street journalist Jeffrey Zaslow(2008) guides on how a person should lead their life while they are alive.
The Last Lecture is equally a telling of how Randy Pausch lived his life and a guide on how others should live theirs. Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon and gave his last lecture after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. However, this lecture was not filled with weepy memories of his family or things he wished he could change. Instead, it was a recount of how he was able to achieve all of his childhood dreams and steps for anyone to do the same. Almost everything Randy says in his lecture are extremely quotable words to live by. He touches upon some of the most fundamental themes that everyone can understand, like the benefits of a positive attitude and how to overcome obstacles to achieve your dreams.
In December of 2013, I was told that I was not considered for the full-time temporary faculty position in political science on South Campus by Dr. Sonia Nieves because I was not able to teach international relations even though I have graduate level coursework in international relations and Political Science degrees do not specify a focus. I later found out that, this requirement was false and inconsistent with Broward College’s Faculty Credentialing Manual and that Dr. Nieves hired an adjunct faculty member from another campus who had the same degree as me. This left me in the middle of December with no classes for the upcoming spring term despite my ability and record to fill my classes and outstanding reviews by students and supervisors. Dr. Neves also mentioned to me, on several occasions, that it was always a major scheduling “hassle” to be forced to find a downstairs classroom in order to accommodate my ADA needs.
“Though you are now only as glimmering lights on the hilltops, few and far between, yet if with all diligence these fires be kept burning, the surrounding country chall catch into flame.” This quote, to me atleast, is the most important quote in the speech because it shows how if we can all agree on things in this country our fire will burn bigger and we will be able to affect other countries with the actions we took to make our own country better.