The Last Lecture

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The Last Lecture 1 An Injured Lion Still Wants to Roar A LOT OF professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Maybe you’ve seen one. It has become a common exercise on college campuses. Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy? For years, Carnegie Mellon had a “Last Lecture Series.” But by the time organizers got around to asking me to do it, they’d renamed their series “Journeys,” asking selected professors “to offer reflections on their personal and professional journeys.” It wasn’t the most exciting description, but I agreed to go with it. I was given the September slot. At the time, I already had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but I was optimistic. Maybe I’d be among the lucky ones who’d survive. While I went through treatment, those running the lecture series kept sending me emails. “What will you be talking about?” they asked. [10]
The Last Lecture “Please provide an abstract.” There’s a formality in academia that can’t be ignored, even if a man is busy with other things, like trying not to die. By mid-August, I was told that a poster for the lecture had to be printed, so I’d have to decide on a topic. That very week, however, I got the news: My most recent treatment hadn’t worked. I had just months to live. I knew I could cancel the lecture. Everyone would understand. Suddenly, there were so many other things to be done. I had to deal with my own grief and the sadness of those who loved me. I had to throw myself into getting my family’s affairs in order. And yet, despite everything, I couldn’t shake the idea of giving the talk. I was energized by the idea of delivering a last lecture that really was a last lecture. What could I say? How would it be received? Could I even get through it? “They’ll let me back out,” I told my wife, Jai, “but I really want to do it.” Jai (pronounced “Jay”) had always been my cheerleader. When I was enthusiastic, so was she. But she was leery of this whole last-lecture idea. We had just moved from Pittsburgh to Southeastern Virginia so that after my death, Jai and the kids could be near her family. Jai felt that I ought to be spending my precious time with our kids, or unpacking our new house, rather than devoting my hours to writing the lecture and then traveling back to Pittsburgh to deliver it. “Call me selfish,” Jai told me. “But I want all of you. Any time you’ll spend working on this lecture is lost time, because it’s time away from the kids and from me.” [11]
Page 2 and 3: The Last Lecture The Last Lecture R
Page 4 and 5: The Last Lecture Contents Introduct
Page 6 and 7: The Last Lecture Introduction I HAV
Page 8 and 9: The Last Lecture I THELASTLECTURE [
Page 12 and 13: The Last Lecture Logan, Chloe, Jai,
Page 14 and 15: The Last Lecture Dr. Reiss listened
Page 16 and 17: The Last Lecture And so, with Jai
Page 18 and 19: The Last Lecture 2 My Life in a Lap
Page 20 and 21: The Last Lecture When the waitress
Page 22 and 23: The Last Lecture 3 The Elephant in
Page 24 and 25: The Last Lecture approximately ten
Page 26 and 27: The Last Lecture II REALLYACHIEVIN
Page 28 and 29: The Last Lecture 4 The Parent Lotte
Page 30 and 31: The Last Lecture soaked up his tech
Page 32 and 33: The Last Lecture Many people who sa
Page 34 and 35: The Last Lecture 5 The Elevator in
Page 36 and 37: The Last Lecture Given my limited a
Page 38 and 39: The Last Lecture 6 Getting to Zero
Page 40 and 41: The Last Lecture I called an offici
Page 42 and 43: The Last Lecture 7 I Never Made It
Page 44 and 45: The Last Lecture That lesson has st
Page 46 and 47: The Last Lecture What we really wan
Page 48 and 49: The Last Lecture annual companion v
Page 50 and 51: The Last Lecture 9 A Skill Set Call
Page 52 and 53: The Last Lecture doors,” he said.
Page 54 and 55: The Last Lecture 10 Winning Big O N
Page 56 and 57: The Last Lecture Have you ever walk
Page 58 and 59: The Last Lecture The giant stuffed
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The Last Lecture Virginia, and I’
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The Last Lecture Because I was gett
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The Last Lecture III ADVENTURES…A
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The Last Lecture 12 The Park Is Ope
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The Last Lecture will be in to see
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The Last Lecture moment. I felt inc
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The Last Lecture 13 The Man in the
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The Last Lecture 14 The Dutch Uncle
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The Last Lecture Looking back, his
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The Last Lecture open, eyes widenin
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The Last Lecture 16 Romancing the B
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The Last Lecture She was told I was
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The Last Lecture In April, I made
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The Last Lecture 17 Not All Fairy T
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The Last Lecture on their wedding d
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The Last Lecture 18 Lucy, I’m Hom
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The Last Lecture 19 A New Year’s
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The Last Lecture took me aside. “
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The Last Lecture In that moment, I
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The Last Lecture On April 11, 1945,
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The Last Lecture 21 Jai I ’VE ASK
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The Last Lecture night. “He just
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The Last Lecture Jai has gotten to
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The Last Lecture He was obviously t
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The Last Lecture IV ENABLINGTHE DRE
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The Last Lecture 23 I’m on My Hon
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The Last Lecture Develop a good fil
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The Last Lecture “Hi, this is Ran
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The Last Lecture important to use t
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The Last Lecture My hope was that m
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The Last Lecture 25 Training a Jedi
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The Last Lecture Tommy turned out t
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The Last Lecture here if not for Ra
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The Last Lecture These were student
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The Last Lecture On presentation da
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The Last Lecture 27 The Promised La
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The Last Lecture Caitlin Kelleher N
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The Last Lecture V IT’SABOUTHOWTO
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The Last Lecture 28 Dream Big M EN
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The Last Lecture 29 Earnest Is Bett
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The Last Lecture 30 Raising the Whi
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The Last Lecture 31 Let’s Make a
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The Last Lecture 32 Don’t Complai
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The Last Lecture Complaining does n
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The Last Lecture This was something
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The Last Lecture 35 Start By Sittin
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The Last Lecture As I called off ea
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The Last Lecture 37 Watch What They
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The Last Lecture major ones. I love
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The Last Lecture The title of the a
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The Last Lecture get upset. They be
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The Last Lecture portfolio were goo
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The Last Lecture my lab. If we kick
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The Last Lecture 43 The Friday Nigh
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The Last Lecture One of my greatest
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The Last Lecture 46 All You Have Is
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The Last Lecture Factor.” If I do
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The Last Lecture medicine in the wo
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The Last Lecture 49 Get in Touch wi
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The Last Lecture 50 The $100,000 Sa
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The Last Lecture and me feel so goo
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The Last Lecture When I was fifteen
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The Last Lecture focused on poring
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The Last Lecture The Carnegie Mello
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The Last Lecture life. It’s inter
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The Last Lecture So I wanted my stu
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The Last Lecture I’ve always been
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The Last Lecture 56 Make a Decision
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The Last Lecture best friends: my h
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The Last Lecture 57 A Way to Unders
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The Last Lecture 58 The Input of Ot
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The Last Lecture appropriate thing
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The Last Lecture with which we touc
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The Last Lecture VI FINALREMARKS [2
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The Last Lecture 59 Dreams for My C
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The Last Lecture Logan, the ultimat
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The Last Lecture that you may not a
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The Last Lecture I have a direct an
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The Last Lecture Realizing some mig
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The Last Lecture Jai and I work har
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The Last Lecture 61 The Dreams Will
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The Last Lecture fake?” I took a
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The Last Lecture anyone he knew in
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The Last Lecture either. Carnegie M
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The Last Lecture AbouttheAuthors R
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The Last Lecture

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