The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch - Essay Example

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch Once an individual realizes that the span of his life is coming to an end he ponders over self-evaluation and also wishes to justify his actions with relevance to his realizations both to himself and to others. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch can be regarded as dazzling evidence in support of this observation. While I was going through the text, realizations of the author and his desperate wish to deliver the lecture irrespective of all his physical ailments provided me with an impression that after realizing the end is inescapable his wish to justify and evaluate himself became so desperate that above all he wished to draw a vivid picture of his entire life within a limited scope.

Standing on the final threshold of his life he wanted to celebrate the essence of living by properly acknowledging its negative as well as positive consequences with everyone not for the sake of being remembered but with a genuine desire to deliver a strong statement to forthcoming generation that life is worth living, learning and finally to be relished. It is perhaps the only reason that Randy Pausch could not afford to miss his opportunity to deliver the last lecture and he clarifies his desperate desire for the same as he specifies his discussions with his wife Jai on this context (Pausche 8).

The Last Lecture to me appears as a ballad where as a sage in the course of life Randy Pausch has learnt some of most important lessons and consequently as he wishes to let others know about his experiences, his willingness to justify his actions in accordance to such realizations required a platform, which is definitely through lecture. Chapter III of The Last Lecture “Adventures … And Lessons Learned” is thus highly important in context of the discussion as Randy Pausch has magnificently elaborated his actions and his consequent realizations in this chapter specifically.

The chapter start with in a mode of recollection. Pausch in the introduction of the chapter talks about the diagnosis of his pancreatic cancer and clearly says that it has been made clear to him of the period till when he will be able to retain his good health. However, generally in such situations human beings encounter emotional collapse but he looked into the eyes of death as if he was facing just another incident of his life as a human being. The counting of number of tumors and then sharing the sudden realization of the fact that the end is very near with his wife in tears clearly suggest that far from being traumatized, he was courageous enough to accept the inevitable with natural humane spontaneity (Pausch 60).

Since the beginning of his lecture Pausch has appeared to be such a character who is definitely not a giving up type. He clearly has realized that life has its own ups and downs and it is prudent for a human being to retain his spirit so that these critical periods can be encountered accordingly: “It wasn’t just some dying man. It was just me. I could begin” (Pausch 18). As a reader one might feel the most evident question that being a part of the spiritually declining social construction and moral corruption how could he have gathered such moral potential?

He answers this question while talking about his experiences as a football player and his interaction with his coach that in modern socio-cultural system people have practicing the art of ignoring the fundamentals and consequently getting detached from their respective capacity to be recognized as human beings: “Fundamentals. That was a great gift Coach Graham gave us. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. As a college professor, I’ve seen this as one lesson so many kids ignore, always to their detriment: You’ve got to get the fundamentals down, because otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work” (Pausch 36).

His actions empowered by his realizations cannot really be termed as regular or normal and to some extent he clearly has breached the limits of normalcy but in terms of humanist spirit he is clearly has proved himself as an integral part of the spontaneity of human spirit: “… I like to think that my flaws are in the social, rather than in the moral category. And I’ve been lucky enough to benefit over the years from people like Andy, who have cared enough to tell me the tough-love things that I needed to hear” (Pausch 68).

Compared to the other chapters, in this phase he clearly has made an attempt to associate his past with his present and in this context he has been highly successful. While going through this chapter one thing appears to evident that in dimensions of his life he remained open, liberal, and finally true to himself as a human being. He never has stopped learning and being a close as well as analytical observer the experiences he has encountered helped him to learn lessons with complete sincerity.

Living in the modern age people often show a common inclination towards fatalism but Randy Pausch exhibits the indomitability of human spirit that refuses to bow down in front of adversities, both situational and personal. In The Last Lecture Randy Pausch clearly emerges as an inspiring individual, who is not very different from any of us and in this context he demands admiration. If I receive the opportunity to deliver a ‘last lecture’ I will also cite examples of my personal life in the same manner but with a desire to be a leader but with the benevolent humanist purpose that might help my fellow human beings to receive a better hold of their respective lives.

If I had to give a last lecture, my realizations would not have been very different from that of Pausch. He provided highest emphasis on some of the most crucial and fundamental aspects regarding living one’s life and under cultural influences of modernist existence people are forgetting those essential parts. However, in my case I would have been clearer in the context of discussing how the elements of cultural bias are being injected in common people, especially of the young generation’s psyche in a very organized manner.

Finally, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch is a very pleasant experience to read, learn and conceptualize. If a human being wishes to learn from life then there is no double about the fact that in every phase of his life he will receive such lessons, incorporating numerous perspectives. All that a person is required to do is to be analytical, inquisitive and finally judgmental. Randy Pausch clearly mastered all these attributes clearly and with the help of capacity as an excellent narrator he has incorporated in his entire narrative elements of both moral appeal and aesthetic pleasure.

Works Cited Pausch. Randy. The Last Lecture. New York: Hyperion. 2008.