The Last Lecture

I haven't written in a while due to the whirlwind of exams and practicals that came and went last week. I've had a week off, and for once, it's been incredibly relaxing. In a mere seven days I went home, visited my sister and parents, attended the National Peanut Festival with them, returned to Birmingham, read Nights In Rodanthe, went bowling Friday night, watched football Saturday, organized my PT school notes from the past two years into a filing cabinet, and today...I went to Starbuck's, had a cup of Peppermint mocha, and read The Last Lecture. I've imagined having a week like this for a long time, and I was glad to see it become reality. It may not be exciting for many, but I'm growing to appreciate opportunities to relax momentarily.
For those of you who haven't read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, I highly suggest it. It was a good, thought-provoking book full of tidbits of advice written by a man dying of pancreatic cancer. A college professor, Pausch gave a final lecture at the university where he was a professor, Carnegie Mellon. The lecture was a venture through his life, with pieces of knowledge he gained along the way from people who impacted his life. Chapters like "Never Give Up" and "Sometimes All You Have to Do Is Ask" are just a few of the examples of things he wanted his students, and his children to learn and apply to their lives. A few things about this book struck me. First and foremost, I was a bit taken back that the book had no spiritual reference, no reference to how he had grown spiritually or how God had used this disease to affect his life. That struck me as odd because I think that's the thing that I would be discussing most, whether it be my anger, my struggle, or my faith, I would think that those things would be at the forefront of my mind as I prepared to proceed into my eternity. I really was a bit let down that he didn't discuss these things even though he said the reason he didn't was because he wanted to impart knowledge that would be beneficial to people of all religions. I still think people of other religions could've benefited, but who am I to say anything. I haven't battled a terminal illness, so I can't describe what I would feel or want people to know. I have suddenly lost my second point...guess my brain is a bit ahead of me.
This book did make me think, yet again, about my future career. Pausch was a professor, and hearing him tell tales from his days as a professor made me once again question if that may be something I might want to do eventually. Just a thought...who knows if it will really happen. I did learn from this book to be earnest in pursuing my dreams. So many times I've settled because I've been afraid of failure, I realize that living in fear of failure is failure itself and will get me nowhere. Nothing is accomplished by never trying. Anyway, enough of that rant. Here are a few quotes from the book that I particularly liked.

"People are more important than things. A car, even a pristine gem like my new convertible, was just a thing."

"The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people....Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

"Failure is not just acceptable, it is often essential."

"I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: hard work. As I see it, if you work more hours than somebody else, during those hours you learn about your craft. That can make you more efficient, more able, even happier. Hard work is like compounded interest in the bank. The rewards build faster."