Parting words
Excerpts from some "last lectures."
Randy Pausch, computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, on Sept. 18, 2007, a month after learning he had terminal pancreatic cancer. He died July 25.
I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left. There's no other way to play it. . . .
When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it. . . . Show gratitude. When I got tenure, I took all of my research team down to Disney World for a week. And one of the other professors said, how can you do that? I said these people just . . . got me the best job in the world for life. How could I not do that? . . .
Don't complain. Just work harder. [shows slide of Jackie Robinson, the first black major-league baseball player] That's a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him. . . .
Be good at something, it makes you valuable. . . . Find the best in everybody. You might have to wait a long time, sometimes years, but people will show you their good side. . . .
And be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.
David Skorton, Cornell University president, on April 17.
If someone asks me what is the most important attribute for a citizen to have, I would say curiosity. If you will stay in touch with the curiosity you've had since birth, whatever you do you will enjoy it more, you will be able to make more of a difference, and you have a more satisfying life. . . .
Remember the very thin veneer that separates the powerful from the powerless. . . . We must all remember, especially coming from a powerful privileged place but especially from an Ivy League university, how small changes in life circumstances can render people less than powerful. . . .
Jot down somewhere, in a journal, on a piece of paper or a journal somewhere, what your life might be like in 10 years. And then go back and look like what it actually is like. And then you'll do your own experiment on the nonlinearity and unpredictably of life.
Alice L. Laffey, associate professor of religious studies, College of the Holy Cross, on Feb. 4.
It's not enough to ask "what?" and "why?" about the world, as important as that is. One must ask those same questions about oneself. What do I love? What do I believe really? Do I love this more than that? Why did I act that way? Why did I say that? Why do I feel this way? Socrates was right that we must examine our motives and strive to be totally honest with ourselves. . . .
Ignatius of Loyola considered the examination of one's life and behavior so important that he counseled the Jesuits to time take each day, twice a day even, to examine themselves. What really do I desire? . . .
Sources: Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, College of the Holy Cross
