"Complaining does not work as a strategy"

The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch

For my birthday, I received a few books. The first was from my sister-in-law Hiedi who got me a copy of the Last Lecture by Randy Pausche. Randy is a guy who discovers that his pancreatic cancer has given him a few months to live and a few weeks to explain his life to his kids. How would you go about it?

"Complaining does not work as a strategy" Randy insists on page 139 and I have decided to take the message to heart in so far as it is possible for me to do so. Randy insists throughout the book that brick walls are there to allow a person to prove that they really want something.

Randy tells a lot of stories about his childhood, his work, his marriage. Its a personality that weaves itself into the warp and woof of a single life. I think the only thing that hurts when I read something like this is the realization that people can be just this good, this hard working, this creative, this humane ... and yet have their lives turn out "unfortunate". But I think the general message cannot be denied. One should throw themselves into their work, their studies, their families, their play. Life cannot forever resist the enthusiasm of a personality with good intentions. Invest in what Randy calls "emotional life insurance." Make sure the people you leave behind know that you loved them and that you loved life too much to be in a Cold war with it.

Chapter 60 made me cry.

Question for Comment: Randy Pausche has turned a catastrophe into a way of providing for his family. He was separated from his kids by pancreatic cancer. I by something else. My separation is real and I feel it but it is more porous. We all have a certain ammount of access to other people that we can influence, love, and receive love from. It may not be as much access as we want but it is more than someone dead gets. So ... how are we using our opportunities today?