The Last Lecture

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The Last Lecture That lesson has stuck with me my whole life. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better. There’s a lot of talk these days about giving children self-esteem. It’s not something you can give; it’s something they have to build. Coach Graham worked in a no-coddling zone. Self-esteem? He knew there was really only one way to teach kids how to develop it: You give them something they can’t do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process. When Coach Graham first got hold of me, I was this wimpy kid with no skills, no physical strength, and no conditioning. But he made me realize that if I work hard enough, there will be things I can do tomorrow that I can’t do today. Even now, having just turned fortyseven, I can give you a three-point stance that any NFL lineman would be proud of. I realize that, these days, a guy like Coach Graham might get thrown out of a youth sports league. He’d be too tough. Parents would complain. I remember one game when our team was playing terribly. At halftime, in our rush for water, we almost knocked over the water bucket. Coach Graham was livid: “Jeez! That’s the most I’ve seen you boys move since this game started!” We were eleven years old, just standing there, afraid he’d pick us up one by one and break us with his bare hands. “Water?” he barked. “You boys want water?” He lifted the bucket and dumped all the water on the ground. [44]
The Last Lecture We watched him walk away and heard him mutter to an assistant coach: “You can give water to the first-string defense. They played OK.” Now let me be clear: Coach Graham would never endanger any kid. One reason he worked so hard on conditioning was he knew it reduces injuries. However, it was a chilly day, we’d all had access to water during the first half, and the dash to the water bucket was more about us being a bunch of brats than really needing hydration. Even so, if that kind of incident happened today, parents on the sidelines would be pulling out their cell phones to call the league commissioner, or maybe their lawyer. It saddens me that many kids today are so coddled. I think back to how I felt during that halftime rant. Yes, I was thirsty. But more than that, I felt humiliated. We had all let down Coach Graham, and he let us know it in a way we’d never forget. He was right. We had shown more energy at the water bucket than we had in the damn game. And getting chewed out by him meant something to us. During the second half, we went back on the field, and gave it our all. I haven’t seen Coach Graham since I was a teen, but he just keeps showing up in my head, forcing me to work harder whenever I feel like quitting, forcing me to be better. He gave me a feedback loop for life. When we send our kids to play organized sports—football, soccer, swimming, whatever—for most of us, it’s not because we’re desperate for them to learn the intricacies of the sport. [45]
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 10 and 11: The Last Lecture 1 An Injured Lion
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 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
Page 60 and 61: The Last Lecture Virginia, and I’
Page 62 and 63: The Last Lecture Because I was gett
Page 64 and 65: The Last Lecture III ADVENTURES…A
Page 66 and 67: The Last Lecture 12 The Park Is Ope
Page 68 and 69: The Last Lecture will be in to see
Page 70 and 71: The Last Lecture moment. I felt inc
Page 72 and 73: The Last Lecture 13 The Man in the
Page 74 and 75: The Last Lecture 14 The Dutch Uncle
Page 76 and 77: The Last Lecture Looking back, his
Page 78 and 79: The Last Lecture open, eyes widenin
Page 80 and 81: The Last Lecture 16 Romancing the B
Page 82 and 83: The Last Lecture She was told I was
Page 84 and 85: The Last Lecture In April, I made
Page 86 and 87: The Last Lecture 17 Not All Fairy T
Page 88 and 89: The Last Lecture on their wedding d
Page 90 and 91: The Last Lecture 18 Lucy, I’m Hom
Page 92 and 93: 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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