Author’s last lecture covers familiar ground

I highly recommend The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. When the author was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

But the lecture he gave — “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” — wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, or seizing every moment (because “time is all you have… and you may find one day that you have less than you think”).

It was a summation of everything Pausch had come to believe. It was about living.

Pausch was an American professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. Handsome, endearing, articulate, he died in 2008 at age 47. Because he was born in 1960, seniors can identify with his story because we all had children about that time and we all share many similar experiences.

We all lived with an open World Book and a dictionary for quick reference on the dining room buffet.

Our kids, too, wanted to paint their bedroom walls to look like a garden, a jungle, or outer space.

Our kids, too, wanted to become astronauts. Our kids loved sports and dreamed of becoming professionals.

Coaches in those days were in a no-coddling zone. They did not give self-esteem, but taught how to build self-esteem.

Wimpy kids with no skills, no physical strength and no conditioning were taught to work hard, and through sports — football, soccer, swimming, whatever — learned the importance of teamwork, perseverance. and the ability to deal with adversity.

Pausch’s Coach Graham might get thrown out of today’s youth league. He was too tough. Parents would complain.

Of course, Pausch loved Star Trek and dreamed of being Captain Kirk. He built a virtual reality world that resembled the bridge of the Enterprise.

He thought the coolest guy at the amusement park was the one carrying the biggest stuffed animal.

He learned long arms and a small amount of discretionary income were both blessings in life. He loved carnivals and Ferris wheels. While reading this book, I reflected a lot and at one point, remembered having to ask the attendant to shut down a ride so my terrified daughter could get off. We loved amusement parks and I still love bumper cars.

Descriptions of the family’s cross-country trip to Disneyland will make you smile.

Early in the book, Pausch declares he had won the parent lottery. He says he was born with the the winning ticket, a major reason he was able to live out his childhood dreams. His mother was a tough, oldschool English teacher with nerves of titanium whose high expectations were his good fortune.

His father was a Second World War medic who served in the Battle of the Bulge.

His father founded a nonprofit group to help immigrants’ kids learn English.

Poor people with bad credit histories or few resources were helped to get insurance and on the road.

Life was comfortable middle class in Columbia, Maryland, and money was never an issue, mostly because there was never a need to spend much.

The family was frugal, rarely went out to dinner and saw a movie once or twice a year. The family thought about and discussed everything, current events, history, life.

A photo that was flashed on the overhead screen during the last lecture depicts the adorable young Pausch gazing into space from the bunk bed his woodworker father had built.

We all did the Disneyland dream and most still consider Disneyland as the happiest place on earth.

Later in life, Pausch applied to Walt Disney Imagineering. He worked on a virtual reality project that involved an Aladdin attraction and a magic carpet expert.

After he arrived in California, he drove a convertible and had the soundtrack to The Lion King blasting on the stereo, a grownup version of the wide-eyed eight-year-old at Disneyland.

In his 40s, Pausch married and had three children. In 2006,CT scans revealed pancreatic cancer, which has the highest mortality rate of any cancer.

He writes cancer was not to be the focus of his lecture.

“My medical saga was what it was, and I’d already been over it and over it. I had little interest in giving a discourse on, say, my insights into how I coped with the disease, or how it gave me new perspectives.”

So the last lecture becomes an outline on the life lessons Pausch has learned and, most importantly, the legacy he wants to leave the young children he loves who may have no memories of him.

I especially identify with the cliches. The one about loyalty and appreciation and dancing with the one who brung you.

I love the cliche from Seneca, the Roman philosopher who was born in 5 BC: Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Another favourite for many seniors like me is, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.”

Here are some other insights from the last lecture. Time is finite. Time management is an appropriate fixation and must be explicitly managed, like money .

You can always change your plan, but only if you have one. Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on the right things?

Most memorable for me was the discussion regarding really achieving your childhood dreams.

We are reminded, at any age, to pursue those interests that made us happy as kids. I dreamed about singing and dancing and being in the spotlight. I still dream about travel and adventure to exotic places.

And we are reminded as parents to let our own children know how much we love them.

I love the Last Lecture as a profound reminder of the beauty, the briefness of life.

Jeanette Dunagan has lived in Kelowna for more than 40 years. Email her at jd2399@telus.net.