Have Fun, Never Give Up, and Always look for Good in Others
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By Sylvia S. Roan, M.S., LCSW 5237, BCBA  | Published Mar 2008

“Have fun, never give up, and always look for good in others.” these are the most important three things to do in life according to Randy Pausch, a dying Professor of Carnegie Mellon University . Professor Pausch was diagnosed to have pancreatic cancer and has only up to fi ve months to live. He co-founded the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU. The anchor commented that Professor Pausch’s biggest legacy is his three children.

I learned about his Final, Farewell lecture from a CMU alumni and her husband tonight. With their assistance I found the news article on line, and watched clips of his farewell lecture, which was aired last Friday on the ABC Good Morning America Show. I hope that we all get to watch him on the Gibson’s World News. Professor Pausch will be featured as the person of the week on “World News with Charles Gibson.” this week.

How would you feel if your were the one having been diagnosed with a terminal cancer with very limited time to live? Randy Pausch said that his farewell lecture was for his children. He took his 5 years old son to Walt Disney World to make memory. Randy focused on what he could do and not on pitying himself.

I think Randy Pausch’s story helps us to pause and re-evaluate how we have lived our life. One of these days we all need to face death as Randy said, ” I am afraid of dying, but I am not afraid of death.” He said, “Life is to be lived.” He also said, “I have never met anyone who was pitying themselves or pitying others who was making the best and highest use of their time.” What would you have said if you were told that you only have one to fi ve months to live? Randy said, “I have the blessing of getting a little bit of advance notice and I am able to optimize my use of time down the home stretch.” Wow!

What are you doing with your life? What are you doing with your family? Are you living in guilt? Are you living in bitterness? Are you pitying yourselves or others? Life is too short for you to live like that? If you are unhappy and blaming others for your unhappiness, you are wasting your life. I would like to encourage you to take Randy Pausch’s advice, “Have Fun, Never Give up, and Always look for Good in Others.” If you are a parent, there is a great opportunity for you to create great memories with your children, learn with them, and grow with them. Life has a lot to offer when you welcome challenges and take one day at a time to learn and to grow. Don’t ever stop learning and growing. Don’t ever stop appreciating each other!