Reflecting on the "Last Lecture"

Earlier during my break, Inside Edition featured Randy Pausch, a 47-year-old Computer Science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He has terminal pancreatic cancer and has been on chemotheraphy to slow down the growth of the tumors. His last lecture,"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", was addressed to a 400-member audience, consisting of fellow professors and students at the university. In a nutshell, he talked about his childhood dreams and how he achieved most of it.

Wouldn't it be great to realize most, if not, all of our childhood dreams? After watching that particular segment, it made me think what my childhood dreams were. Sometimes I have silly moments thinking I shouldn't have grown up. The freedom that is to be a child... I do not worry about tomorrow because I know in my heart, my parents would take care of everything. A child lives in the present with little or no regard for the future.

But life doesn't work that away.

I have dreamt of becoming a doctor but decided not to pursue it because I'm too squeamish at the sight of blood. Besides, medical school was too expensive. It still is, anyway. I also thought of becoming a nurse however, the drive to be one wasn't that much. I don't want to be a half-baked nurse. I also thought of becoming a flight attendant but I lack swimming skills. And so, I've forgone that idea, too. I've dreamt about becoming an engineer. I almost was but I quit midway through my college years. The math was too much and physics for me was unintelligible. I've dreamt of seeing Mickey Mouse in real life and that came true. I've dreamt of traveling to different places and that too, came true. And so on and so forth.

We dream big. Children always do. We may think that some our childhood dreams are silly or sometimes, impossible. To bridge that chasm we create between ourselves and the sought-after "dream" is to make it happen. Act on it. Act on your dream. Take the risk. Try.