The Last Lecture

Well, as usual, i was checking up on my friends' blogs, occasionally clicking the links to other blogs in their blogs. (Confused?) And eventually i came across a blog that belongs to my friend's sister. I read, read and read, and there was a video embedded in there. I watched it, and I thought "This is something that i MUST show you guys."

Its entitled "Inspirational Speech by Dr. Randy Pausch : The Last Lecture".

The link goes here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ya9BXClRw

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I'll give a short summary:

Dr. Randy Pausch (You could skip to the next part - The Video if you don't wanna read this)

The video's about a professor in Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) named Dr. Randy Pausch (I'll call him Randy for short) who got pancreatic cancer since 2006. The cancer spread to his liver and spleen during 2007, which means a sure death for him. (Don't ask me, i don't know when will he die).

The Video (Read this only after you have watched the video and you couldn't understand it.)

I'll make it short and as detailed as possible.

Firstly, Randy talks about childhood dreams. Randy said that his main childhood dream was to become a National Football League player, (obviously that dream wasnt achieved). Then he was interested in Walt Disney Entertainments. So he tried to apply for a job as an "imagineer", some sort of engineers working in Walt Disney, XD. After rejections followed by rejections, he finally succeeded.

There he explained that "The brick walls that are in our way are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out, they're there to give us a way to show how much we want it (our goal)"

He also talked about how parents play a role in their children's upbringing. There he displays a photo that shows his mother in a bumper car while she was 70 (YES, SEVENTY) years old. There was another photo that shows his father in a roller coaster ride while he was 80. Incredible, huh? Obviously his parents were the "fun" type. Randy also said that mothers are "people who will still love you even if you pull their hair" (Check the photo in the video, its cute).. Moreover, his parents even let him paint his own bedroom, which im sure most parents nowadays will not. 

Next, he talks about things (as in harta benda). He said that he doesnt mind about getting his "shiny car" dirty. As he said, "who cares if you own a shiny, pristine thing, its not as good as I (Randy) felt when i made an 8-year old boy (his nephew) NOT feel guilty because he got the flu and vomitted in my car". Again, watch the video if you haven't, so as to understand this part.

Following that, he explains the 3 simple ways to work and play well with others. I'll list it out:

-=- Tell the truth (I don't have to explain this, do i?)

-=- Apologize properly. (There're 3 stages that make up a sincere apology:

1) "I'm sorry.",

2) "It's my fault",

3) "How do i make it right?"

(Most people don't do the 3rd part, which determines whether an apology is sincere or not.)

-=- Be patient, and people will show their good side. (He believes that there're no one that are purely evil. Given enough time, they would be able to show their good side, if only you're patient enough to wait..)

Then, he talks about "Showing gratitude" and "Don't complain, just work harder", sorry but you have to watch the video to understand it.

He ends his speech rather sadly : Originally, the lecture was not actually meant for us watchers, but for his three sons, whom he would not have the chance to watch them grow up.

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That's it, i hope you guys find it inspirational as i did. It changed my perspective of life.

If you would like to find out more about Dr. Randy Pausch, click here. For updates on his health life, check it out here.

Thanks, Randy for the speech.

For the rest of you, live life to its max, and make this world a better place.

Bye.

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“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”
“The brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.”
“Wait long enough and people will impress you.”
“Don’t bail: the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap.”
“I will fix this.”
“Get a feedback loop and listen to it.”
“Be prepared: ‘luck’ is where preparation meets opportunity”
“Be good at something; it makes you valuable.”

-=- All the quotes above were used by Dr. Randy Pausch in his speeches. His personal motto? 

"You can't control the cards you're dealt, just how you play the hand."