I recently finished reading the book The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. If you aren’t familiar with the story, Randy was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. It was a common tradition for professors to give a talk titled “The Last Lecture” in which they would contemplate their own mortality and what last things they would want to share with the world. Randy was asked to give his last lecture in 2007, but what made his different was that this really would be his last lecture. Randy had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and it was terminal.
He ended up giving his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon and it was later turned into a book. Randy was in his early 40s with three young kids and a wife that he was leaving behind. It would have been easy, and certainly understandable, for Randy to take that time to mourn his own death, say goodbye to his loved ones, or even cancel the lecture all together because of his health. Instead, Randy chose to use that as an opportunity to talk about life and how to live life to the fullest.
One of the stories that Randy shared was about his niece and nephew when they were young kids and he was still a bachelor. He loved to pick them up in his brand new convertible and take them around town for a fun day. When he went to pick them up for the first time in his new car his sister told the kids to make sure they wiped their feet before they got in and be careful not to get the car dirty. However, Randy decided the kids needed a different lesson. So, he picked up a can of soda, popped it open, and poured it all over the back seat of the convertible. He wanted them to understand that people are more important than things.
As I read that story I couldn’t help but laugh at the image of this scene, applaud him for being willing to do that, and then start wondering if I would be willing to do the same thing. I do agree that people are more important than things, but I wonder if my life always reflects that. What could we all do to show that we value people more than things? (And don’t suggest that I pour a soda in the backseat of my car, because that’s not happening!)
