Hello World.

As you may have heard, Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University passed away this Friday of incurable cancer. He gained recent fame and headlines for his now famous last lecture and the book that followed it. While watching his lecture on YouTube it's sometimes easy to forget that this is a dying man, and however morbid that may be to some people, the person that it should be affecting most, Mr. Pausch has completely accepted his fate and is truly living his life in spite of knowing the outcome. I don't think most people, myself included could be given only a few months left to live and come to terms with it. He decided he had to do what he could to spread awareness on pancreatic cancer by meeting with congress, giving a public service announcements, and most importantly leave a lasting image of himself for his young children.

"Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you"
His lecture is packed with life lessons, how to find your dreams, and how to help others with their own dreams. Most of Pausch's childhood dreams came true for him, such as experiencing zero gravity, winning large stuffed animals, and working with Disney's imagineers, and that was because he was unrelenting.

I believe too that if you know your dreams and recognize opportunities you can achieve great things. I tried my hardest to think about what I longed for as a child. Did I want to be a doctor, an astronaut, a trapeze artist? No. I wanted to fly in a plane, go to disney world, be friends with mary-kate and ashley, swim with dolphins, toss a pizza, learn to juggle, ride in a hot air balloon, drive across the country with my friends, understand my religion, find true love...Most things simple; most easy to accomplish (minus maybe the last two). As a grew I knew I wanted to make things, to use my hands, to help people. I valued friendships, I was a peace-maker among friends and held on tight to those that despite my efforts drifted away from me. I still do. I'm still learning that some things are not within my control, and not everything can be as neat and tidy as I want it to be. Each day is an experience, a lesson, an imprint. I know I have an insatiable desire to succeed, to accomplish my goals, and to always be striving to do better for myself and for others. While I would like to make an impact on the world, I want to still be able to be happy with just making an impact in my own immediate world.

Passion and knowledge are driving forces that when spread create change, and cause a ripple effect. Randy Pausch proved that. He is one example that did not think his message would spread the way it did, did not think he was deserving of such attention. Success for Mr. Pausch was just in being able to dream big, whether or not all of the dreams came true, and to be able to convey that message to his kids. Live your life regardless of your circumstances. Anyone has the power to be successful in their lives; it's all about how you define success.