Thoughts on “The Last Lecture”

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May 12, 2008 - 4:26 pm Dr. West

  There’s a book that’s making the circuit in the world in general, but it’s probably especially relevant here.   The Last Lecture, by Dr. Randy Pausch with very helpful editing by Wall Street Journal writer Jeffrey Zaslow, is a book based on the lecture last September by Dr. Pausch, a computer scientist and virtual reality expert who is a tenured professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, a major leader in this work.   The “Last Lecture” refers to a lecture series that is common at universities, in which professors are invited to give a major presentation on the key points they would impart as a last lecture, the culmination of their experience.  Dr. Pausch, though only 47 now, had already attained a stature that would lead him to be invited for such an honor.  But the amazing story is that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006, while in his mid-40s and with three young children, and from there he underwent aggressive surgery (that makes lung surgery look easy) then chemo and radiation, but learned just weeks before he was scheduled to give his September 2o07 lecture that he had developed a recurrence, and therefore that he had an incurable disease.  He was told that he could probably expect about 3-6 good months, and as he told his audience at the lecture that day, a month into that estimate, “you do the math”.    Ironically, the title series had recently been changed from “The Last Lecture” to “Journeys” or some such ambiguity, and he opens by saying how disappointed he was with this change after “I finally nailed the venue”. 

   In fact, the lecture was recorded not for the world, but for a few people at Carnegie Mellon who would miss it that day.  It was posted on YouTube and other places, where people would watch a respected professor with terminal cancer give what would literally be his last lecture.  But he didn’t speak on computer science, or at least he did only tangentially.   Instead, he spoke to that 400 person audience about “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”.  He used this goodbye to his “work family” (he was a clear workaholic, as befits someone who becomes a tenured professor around 40), but primarily to expound upon how he managed to achieve his own childhood dreams and, as importantly, enabled other people to achieve theirs.

   In truth, speaking about this lecture is kind of like reviewing mom’s apple pie: it almost seems like sacrilege to say that there was still more than enough about computer science and his academic achievements.   Overall, I think it was humanizing to see him as a whole person, and he readily notes that those close to him laugh about his canonization as “St. Randy”, since he clearly ruffled some feathers along the way.  Admittedly arrogant and brash, he doesn’t minimize the faults that come through the lecture and the pages of the book, but that just makes him real (one small chapter of the book is about being a “recovering jerk”). 

   His focus is on truly valuable lessons like tenacity (”brick walls aren’t there to stop you…they’re there to show you how badly you want things…they’re there to stop the other guys”), to tell the truth all the time, to accept well intended feedback even when it’s hard, risk taking, and team work.   His lecture and the book are peppered with colorful examples.   Although there is much about life lessons, some of this is in the context of goals of winning carnival stuffed animals or “being Captain Kirk”, not all high-mindedness (that’s a good thing).

   With his diagnosis of terminal cancer, it’s to his credit that his life’s focus changed to his family, and especially his young children:

 (beautiful family, it must be said)

In fact, after the incredible response he received after his actual lecture, he was reluctant to spend his limited time on a book.  Jeffrey Zaslow became friendly with him after driving from his home in Detroit to Pittsburgh to cover the lecture for his paper (story summarized here) and suggested that it would be a valuable tribute to the world and especially to his family and children the lessons he won’t be able to impart in the future.  Rather than take away from his time with family, Dr. Pausch used the time he spent biking to maximize his strength and overall constitution to speak on his cell to Mr. Zazlow, who edited these conversations and the content of his lecture into a 200 page book that was easily readable in a single sitting.  In fact, I must confess that I found the newspaper article and the book more enriching than the lecture itself, because the editing process really encapsulated all of the wisdom and thoughtful perspective, while highlighting him as a person with strengths and faults.  

    There’s more content, including a Diane Sawyer interview with him and his wife (in which they discuss with great compassion the struggle of facing his diagnosis with small children) on YouTube, and also plenty more on the website www.thelastlecture.com 

    Whether you’re fighting cancer or not, the struggle to make the most of your life, leaving a meaningful imprint by your work while also imparting who you are to your family, is something I and am sure many other people can relate to. 

    Please tell me some of your thoughts if you read or watched.  I’m going to go play with my kids. 

Posted in: Coping and Social Stressors with Cancer, General, Social Work/Coping with Cancer