Last things

How do you live when you're dying?

This is really everyone's story, but I guess most of us don't think of it unless the dying part is more imminent.

My book club read Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture" as our September feature. I had to miss the discussion due to church conflicts, so I'll reflect here.

If you haven't heard of it, The Last Lecture is the story of Pausch, who died earlier this year of pancreatic cancer. He was 47 and a professor at Carnegie Mellon in human-computer interactions. He gave the lecture in Sep. 2007 (as his last). The book is based on the lecture and his story.

His lecture is entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" and you can find it on YouTube. He's fun and funny. His dreams may seem child-like (float in zero gravity, play for the NFL, be Captain Kirk on Star Trek) but over his life he finds he does accomplish many of them (well, he played high school footbak and met Captain Kirk instead of becoming him). The lecture and the book are about his legacy to his kids but his words are also ways to live.

The book was a bestseller on NY Times. His death was covered by ABC, Time, the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times. What is it about this story that has captivated us?

In part, I think, it's his honesty. One of the first slides in his last lecture is a CT scan of his liver, with arrows pointing to the tumors. He says it's important to point out the "elephant the room." He's funny, too. He gets down on stage and does a bunch of push-ups to show that, for a dying man, he's in pretty good shape. He even wrote the book (with journalist Jeffrey Zaslow) during phone conversations while Pausch rode his bike.

But there must be something more compelling. Many writers are honest and funny and they don't top bestseller lists. And while Pausch's advice is great (be honest, tell people you love them, don't waste time on important things, don't let brick walls stop you) we could find these proverbial thoughts elsewhere.

I think Pausch is so fascinating because our society shuts out death and dying. It's the place we don't go, publically. Pausch brings the reality (and hope, joy and fun even at the end) into public discourse. He embraces the nearness of death and lives fully in spite of it. He doesn't deny it, cover it up or get embarrased about it. Pausch lets us know it's okay to talk about death and it's okay to live even when you're dying.

After all, we're all doing it. Pausch might remind us we might as well enjoy life, then, while we have it.

Check out his Web site for more info, stories, and book details:

http://www.thelastlecture.com