Let your children write on the walls

July 25, 2008 in Life is a Verb

I first posted an entry about Randy Pausch last September, when his "Last Lecture" became a YouTube hit. A father of three young children and a beloved professor at Carnegie Mellon, Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at such a young age. The odds were definitely against him. For his children, he wanted to leave behind a legacy–the lecture and the book that emerged from it–so they might hear his lessons after he was gone. As I first heard his story, I realized he and I were attempting to do the same thing–tell our children our stories and leave with them some few words of wisdom and encouragement, should we leave them too soon. One of his words of wisdom? Let your kids write on the walls of your house rather than worry about resale value. He showed a photograph of his childhood home, his mathematical equations still evident on the walls of his room.

Randy Pausch died today. He was only 47 years old. May we rest in the knowledge that he had done what he set out to do, given the hand he was dealt, and may we hold those children in our hearts as the years go by and they realize more and more that he is missed and forever missing.

My thanks to Jasper for letting me know of Randy’s passing.

37days Do it Now Challenge

"The odds were definitely against him," I wrote above of Randy Pausch’s diagnosis. And yet, the odds are against all of us, aren’t they? The death rate? Pretty much 100%. It occurs to me that while he was given the gift (and pain) of urgency, many of us (all of us) also have a limited time on earth. It’s really the message behind 37days, writ large and public and with real consequences. People like Randy Pausch and Sheridan Simon and Meta and Matthew and Larry and Tara and Philip and all those dead too young are our best teachers. Let us learn their lesson and live as if today was the last day. Shall we? What would that look like?

For some of us, today really is day one of our last 37 days. For Randy Pausch, he just got to day 37. May he rest in peace.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

3 comments to " Let your children write on the walls "


Chenoa

July 26, 2008 AT 1:46AM

I was incredibly inspired after watching his Last Lecture and decided that my childhood dreams had waited long enough. That talk was the spark that made me re-evaluate what I want from the rest of my life. Among other things, I’m finally training to run my first half-marathon in January and will attempt to qualify as part of the first all-women ski team to reach Antartica.
Thank you for this post on Randy, Patti.

jylene

July 26, 2008 AT 6:28AM

thanks for posting this, patti. i had not yet heard of his death.
i will say an extra prayer and hold them in my heart today.

Becky

July 26, 2008 AT 6:50AM

It’s so easy to take time for granted. We always have ‘more time’ later however we always ‘can’t find the time’ to do certain things…. write that letter, make that phone call, read that book, etc.

What a pertinent example of how to use our time.

(Speaking of, I finally found my stationary while unpacking and I received my new return address labels in the mail. Time to sit down and write some of those letters I said I would do months ago.)