Randy Pausch, a former University of Virginia professor, gives his final lecture on time management on the Charlottesville campus Nov. 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Daily Progress, Kaylin Bowers)
Time seems infinite when you’re a kid, elusive when you’re an adult, and precious when you’re near death.
“Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think,” wrote Randy Pausch, a former Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist.
More than a decade ago, Pausch wrote these words while facing terminal cancer. His thoughts about the concept of time, the meaning of life, and the inevitability of death led to one final collegiate lecture which became an international internet sensation. And also to a best-selling book, “The Last Lecture,” which I finally got around to reading.
“All my life, I’ve been very aware of that time is finite,” wrote Pausch, whose book was co-written by Jeffrey Zaslow, the late journalist whose compelling stories in the Wall Street Journal always entranced me.
(4) For he who is reckoned among the living has something to look forward to—even a live dog is better than a dead lion—
(5) since the living know they will die. But the dead know nothing; they have no more recompense, for even the memory of them has died.
(6) Before the silver cord snaps And the golden bowl crashes, The jar is shattered at the spring, And the jug is smashed at the cistern.
(7) And the dust returns to the ground As it was, And the lifebreath returns to God Who bestowed it. (8) Breath of breathes —said Koheleth— All is vapor!
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
(11) He brings everything to pass precisely at its time; He also puts eternity in their mind, but without man ever guessing, from first to last, all the things that God brings to pass.
(12) Thus I realized that the only worthwhile thing there is for them is to enjoy themselves and do what is good in their lifetime;
(13) also, that whenever a man does eat and drink and get enjoyment out of all his wealth, it is a gift of God.