The late Randy Pausch’s book, The Last Lecture, continues to be on the bestseller list. The book is based on a lecture that Pausch gave at Carnegie Mellon after discovering he had terminal cancer. In writing the book, Pausch said that he hoped to give “a message in a bottle” that would one day wash up on the shores of his children’s lives (who he knew would not remember him well given their young age).
What would you say in a message you hoped would one day wash up on shore for your children?
Pausch’s lecture is worth watching. He had a winsome personality and he knew how to organize a lecture and to engage an audience. You cannot help but admire a man who worked so hard to develop his intellectual gifts. He clearly loved his wife and children.
But, if the Last Lecture is worth watching, it’s also worth considering the adequancy of his central thought. In Pausch’s introduction, he stated both what he was lecturing about (achieving your childhood dreams) and what he would not be talking about (cancer or religion). Pausch stated:
I’m not in denial . . . We’re not going to talk about cancer . . . if you any herbal supplements or remedies please stay away from me . . .and we’re not going to talk about spirituality or religion although I will tell you I have experienced a deathbed conversion. I just bought a Macintosh . . .
Pausch goes on to describe how he dreamed of being in zero gravity, of being Captain Kirk, writing an article for Worldbook encyclopedia and so forth.
It’s no surprise that the book is selling well. Pausch is a handsome and winsome poster child for the values of our culture.
Yet, here is the question. Are childhood dreams enough? Are we content to concede that we have eternally lost to physical death (“don’t talk to me about herbal supplements”)? If one achieves his or her dreams in this life that we can die with a smile? Is this the message you would want to wash up on shore for your children?
Or, would you confess and proclaim:
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”(Jn 11:25-27).”
You can watch Pausch’s lecture here.
