death

This morning a man closed his eyes forever. He died the death that everyone dies, like the other hundred people whose heart will stop beating by the time you’ve finished reading this post. But that man was Randy Pausch.

Upon the tragedy of learning of his future death months in advance, Randy didn’t allow the sword of Damocles hanging over his head to take the smile from his face. He had fun until the end, he truly lived until his last moment. In the process, with his Last Lecture, he managed to touch the lives of millions of people worldwide.

In that sense, he never died. He continues to live inside the hearts of those who were deeply inspired by his message of living life to the fullest, with joy. Randy is a continuos reminder of the importance of working hard to achieve your dreams, of not complaining about petty things, of having a positive outlook towards life.

I always wanted to get in touch with Randy and thank him for the many ways he ended up inspiring and changing my own life. But I never wrote to him, not even an email. It wouldn’t have been fair for me to take that time from his family, to read yet another thank you note amongst the thousands that he received.

Last night I started writing a post about the lessons I learned from Dr. Randy Pausch. I thought about it after reading a status update page that tragically mentioned he was no longer able to post updates, due to the advanced state of his pancreatic cancer. My post was going to be titled “The lessons I’ve learned from a dying man”.

That post, with an aptly renamed title, can wait. Instead this is my farewell. Goodbye Randy.