The Last Lecture book discussion - Research Paper Example

It is challenging news for the one who is going to die, and for the one who loves him heartily, it is a double tragedy. Three angel-like children cement their love. Under the protective wings of their joint affection they live a smooth life; what next if one wing is cut off by cruel destiny? Out of this impending certain tragedy, emerges the brilliant leader. “The Last Lecture” is just a tool to reveal the great qualities of head and heart of Randy Pausch, his daunting spirit, to make himself available to the cause that he dearly loved.

He pens those two beautiful sentences in the book, (Introduction, p. x) “I lectured about the joy of life, about how much I appreciated life, even with so little of my own left. I talked about honesty, integrity, gratitude, and other things I hold dear. And I tried very hard not to be boring.” Even in such a grim situation, Pausch emerges like a brave warrior who remains glorious in defeat. He knows the count of his heartbeats; he appreciates the special individual who has right over those beats, but through sheer will power he transcends her magnetic pull, and The Last….

2 remains true to the duty which he considers he owes to the society. A leader is the one who makes the right choice at the right time and Pausch has before him a very, very, difficult choice. He is a great family man. Randy Pausch et al. (2008, p.6) writes, “That’s why I spent many of my walking hours making arrangements for my family’s future without me. Still I couldn’t let go of my urge to give this last lecture.” "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand,” sums up everything about the challenge of life as perceived by Randy Pausch (p.17). The essential difference between “The Last Lecture” by other Professors and the one by him was that he was distinctly aware, without an iota of doubt that it was going to be his last.

Incredible though, in such a grim situation, Pausch was not willing to talk about death and create an atmosphere of gloom which would ooze out sympathy for him and his family; his lecture was about “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” His final words were a great mixture of humor, inspiration and intelligence. While answering the questions put to him, he detached himself admirably from the deadly disease that was mercilessly leading him to the grave. He delivered his last lecture on September 18, 2007, a month after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

He knew he was heading out of the door for the last time, after delivering the lecture. While reading his observations in the book on the issues like managing time, learning to listen to others, re-thinking priorities etc. one feel as if one is interacting with a management guru, and not with an individual who is fighting the losing battle of his life. The subject of death The Last….3 gets the lowest priority in his lecture, though it was topmost in the minds of his audience that he was addressing that day.

Pausch was thinking about other’s welfare and deeply pondered about the future of his family without him. He writes (p.8) about the possible benefit of his last lecture to his children thus: “When the kids are older, they’re going to go through this phase where they absolutely, achingly need to know: ‘Who was my dad? What was he like?’ This lecture could help give them an answer to that.”