Dreamz Unlimited

Just happened to watch the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch video on YouTube. And I was floored... There is no other way to describe what I felt. I will not go into what the video is about, for there are simply no words to describe it. You just have to watch the video for yourself. Here is the URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
A short introduction to the lecture can be found in this shorter clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25tfstdGC-8

Randy Pausch passed away on July 25, 2008. Randy was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in August 2006.

While I will not go into what his Last Lecture was about, I would like to share with you some things which made a lasting impression on me. The first was the boundless zest and enthusiasm. Here was a guy who had been given two to six months of healthy life by his doctors. And yet, he is so full of Life! As if he seems to be smirking at Death and saying, "You can't kill the spirit, only the body!". Yes, Randy will always live on in the form of Alice, an edutainment project conceptualized by him. The second thing is his attitude towards Life. Never missing the bigger picture. As he says, "Did you get the head fake?" The third is his belief in the inherent goodness of human beings. You just have to wait, but people have a way of surprising you with what they are capable of. No one is completely evil. In times of cynicism, I feel that is the single most important virtue. Belief. Belief in humanity, in the fact that there is goodness in this world in no small measure. The fourth is genuine concern for his fellow human beings. As he says, "Always focus on others, never on yourself". In this world of big egos and small hearts, here is a person who is dying from cancer, and yet talks about enabling dreams for others. And dreams of doing it in a way "that is infinitely scalable".
Randy Pausch may be no more. But people like him leave behind their indelible footprints in the sands of time. The body may die, but the Soul lives on forever. As do the deeds and the philosophy of people like Randy. Rest in Peace, Randolph Pausch. May God bless his family.