GOODBYE RANDY- HELLO FUN!!!
By admin on Jul 27, 2008 in Our Daily Planet, School of Natural Magic and Realism
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Goodbye Randy –
He was a sensation that he never meant to be. He was one of the bravest and most courageous individuals I have ever seen, not because he took the impending news of his death so well, but because he took his living days and did them so well.
Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University professor died on Friday, July 25th, when he finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer. He was a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design, and was recognized as a pioneer of virtual reality research. On campus, he became known for his flamboyance and showmanship as a teacher and mentor and I suppose he will be remembered for that showmanship forever, even by those he didn’t teach in the classroom, but by those he taught by delivering his LAST LECTURE so publicly.
Randy, didn’t mind the thought of dying. He saw this as an adventure. What he minded, was leaving his wife Jai, and his 3 children, Chloe, Dylan and Logan too soon, with too much life still inside him. He was 47. Yet, Randy didn’t die with his DREAMS left inside him.
If you didn’t see his LAST Lecture, you can revisit it here…http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/ .
Randy lived to have fun. In fact he said "I mean I don’t know how to not have fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there’s no other way to play it."
He is an amazing example of how one LIVES by CHOICE and NOT DEFAULT. A Lecture you have heard me give OVER and OVER in my writing and in my coaching.
Randy wanted to fulfill all of his childhood dreams before he died. He told a packed auditorium he fulfilled almost all his childhood dreams - being in zero gravity, writing an article in the World Book Encyclopedia and working with the Walt Disney Co. The one that eluded him? Playing in the National Football League. One he didn’t expect? In what he called "a truly magical experience," he was invited to appear as an extra in the new "Star Trek" movie. He got to keep his costume but he gave the $210.00 paycheck to charity.
There is a deep lesson here. WHY oh WHY does it take the imminent threat of dying to make us take action to really LIVE?
We are ALL going to die. There is no way we get to skip that boat. We don’t know when or how, but we know that this is a fact.So why ARE WE WAITING to LIVE?
Is MONEY so important to us, to you – something that we can’t take with us, that you would rather grind out your days raking it in, than knowing that you took the time to experience everything that the world has to offer. All the gifts, and riches of this universe, all your dreams?
How many amazing and beautiful places in the world do you still have to see, want to see? Have you made a list? What rare and incredible creatures have eluded you? Even domestic? Have you seen a moose in person? A seal or a whale? A platypus or Kimodo dragon? What of the incredible fruits and bounty the earth gives up- have you tasted of the land and sea? Have you been open to exploring different cultures and enjoying what makes us so different yet also the same?
Thank you Randy for bringing It HOME. Thank you for being brave enough to LIVE. Dying is the easy part, LIVING is why we have come here. What are you doing about that part?
Hey, it’s a question I ask myself every day.. Unstoppable Frankie Picasso
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