2008 Woodie Awards
Editorial
Final lecture, final month
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: Opinion
Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch gave what is dubbed "The Final Lecture" (a school tradition in which a professor gives a lecture as if it were his or her last lecture to give before dying) to one of his classes in September 2007. This Final Lecture is a bit different in that Pausch is actually dying. He has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and doctors have given him less than a year to live.
Though he addressed his lecture to the students in the room, he says the real audience was his three children who aren't yet aware of his illness.
"I can't do anything about the fact that I'm gonna die," Pausch said in his speech. "I can't control the cards I'm dealt, just the way I play the hands. I don't choose to be an object of pity."
The spring semester is one month from being over. It is officially crunch time. The sun is just starting to peek out from behind those dark and gloomy clouds. Nothing sucks more than to watch it paint everything with that warm, summer light from inside a classroom, but those are the cards of this semester. How will you play them?
Times like these are all about perspective. It is easy to give up, hard to push on and fun to quit, but most of all sad to see yourself back in line filling out those pain-in-the-ass financial aid forms come fall because you let this semester get away from you.
Students, there is no cure-all for lack of motivation. It's up to each individual to find it within him or herself to move forward and finish strong. Refuse to be an object of pity.
Pausch is the epitome of finishing strong. If he, facing his imminent, early death refuses to be an object of pity, how can anyone take pity on you? School is hard. Finals are harder. Buckle down, forget the sun and the beach for now. In three, four or five years, take a month-long cruise with your degree and new job to any beach you want.
Sophomores, will you be back in the financial aid line in the fall because you spent April across the street on the beach? Freshmen, is that degree going to cost you an extra year of tuition because you never thought those couple of classes were going to matter?
Don't let the thought of that one final month get you down. Put it in perspective. One month is: 1/9th of the time it takes to create a life, the amount of time it took Sammy Sosa to hit 20 home runs inJune of 1998, less than the amount of time Lindsay Lohan was in rehab and soon, if not already, will be the amount time Pausch has left to live.
He gave his final lecture. Start today and work through April like it's your "final month."
Though he addressed his lecture to the students in the room, he says the real audience was his three children who aren't yet aware of his illness.
"I can't do anything about the fact that I'm gonna die," Pausch said in his speech. "I can't control the cards I'm dealt, just the way I play the hands. I don't choose to be an object of pity."
The spring semester is one month from being over. It is officially crunch time. The sun is just starting to peek out from behind those dark and gloomy clouds. Nothing sucks more than to watch it paint everything with that warm, summer light from inside a classroom, but those are the cards of this semester. How will you play them?
Times like these are all about perspective. It is easy to give up, hard to push on and fun to quit, but most of all sad to see yourself back in line filling out those pain-in-the-ass financial aid forms come fall because you let this semester get away from you.
Students, there is no cure-all for lack of motivation. It's up to each individual to find it within him or herself to move forward and finish strong. Refuse to be an object of pity.
Pausch is the epitome of finishing strong. If he, facing his imminent, early death refuses to be an object of pity, how can anyone take pity on you? School is hard. Finals are harder. Buckle down, forget the sun and the beach for now. In three, four or five years, take a month-long cruise with your degree and new job to any beach you want.
Sophomores, will you be back in the financial aid line in the fall because you spent April across the street on the beach? Freshmen, is that degree going to cost you an extra year of tuition because you never thought those couple of classes were going to matter?
Don't let the thought of that one final month get you down. Put it in perspective. One month is: 1/9th of the time it takes to create a life, the amount of time it took Sammy Sosa to hit 20 home runs inJune of 1998, less than the amount of time Lindsay Lohan was in rehab and soon, if not already, will be the amount time Pausch has left to live.
He gave his final lecture. Start today and work through April like it's your "final month."
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