Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams By Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch was a man who found much success in his life. He received his bachelors degree from Brown University, and went on to earn his Ph.D in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, later becoming a professor there. He had been employed with major companies, such as Adobe Systems and Walt Disney Imagineering. In September 2006, Randy Pausch discovered that he had terminal pancreatic cancer, and was given 3-6 months to live. He underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy to remove the tumor from his pancreas, but by August 2007 the cancer had returned. After giving a lecture at Carnegie Mellon University in September 2007, called “Really Achieving your Childhood Dreams” (also referred to as “The Last Lecture”), it went viral, and led

The exact quote is: “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” I find this quote very inspirational. Many of us have big goals and huge dreams, and those are not always easy to pursue. We may have brick walls (challenges, unexpected changes occurring, etc) in our lives, that sometimes make our dreams seem far away, unrealistic, or maybe even impossible. However, the best things in life are never easy. If you want something badly enough, you will do whatever it takes in order to make it happen. Like Randy Pausch said, those brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. It’s not always about the destination, it’s always important to focus on the journey. Even if you achieve your goal, the way you got to that point says a lot more about you than the accomplishment itself does. This quote from the lecture really stood out to me, and I believe that it is a really good outlook to have in

It was about the time when he was taking his niece and nephew out for the day, and had just bought a new car. The children’s mother was telling the children to be very careful and to not make a mess while they were riding in it. However, as she was saying this, Pausch was pouring a can of pop onto the backseat of the car. He was trying to prove the point that his car is just a thing. It is simply a material item, and quality of life should not be sacrificed just because of a thing. His niece and nephew were now able to relax, and not spend the whole day worrying about making a mess in the car. Later on, the nephew ended up throwing up in the car. Pausch would never have wanted a child to feel bad about simply having the flu. And because of the light hearted attitude Pausch had about his new car, the children did not have to feel bad about making a mess. I personally believe that, for the most part, our society is too focused on the materialistic things in life. We are all determined to have the best, newest thing- whether that be a certain phone, a laptop, or something else. And then when we finally purchase that thing, we sometimes go to drastic measures in order to protect it. Our obsession with materialism is also affecting our day to day life, and not in a positive way. There are simple, fun things that cannot be done anymore due to our possessions that we treasure ever so deeply. While standing by the pool, you