The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture
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Make a Decision: Tigger or Eeyore
W HEN I told Carnegie Mellon’s president, Jared Cohon, that I
would be giving a last lecture, he said, “Please tell them about
having fun, because that’s what I will remember you for.”
And I said, “I can do that, but it’s kind of like a fish talking about
the importance of water.”
I mean, I don’t know how not to have fun. I’m dying and I’m
having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left.
Because there’s no other way to play it.
I came to a realization about this very early in my life. As I see it,
there’s a decision we all have to make, and it seems perfectly captured in
the Winnie-the-Pooh characters created by A. A. Milne. Each of us must
decide: Am I a fun-loving Tigger or am I a sad-sack Eeyore? Pick a camp. I
think it’s clear where I stand on the great Tigger/Eeyore debate.
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