It was one of those glorious Melbourne days, sunny with just a few white clouds in an otherwise blue sky. I spent much of the afternoon sitting outside coffee shops reading. I've now finished Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart. Prior to that I ran into a friend from RMIT who I haven't seen for many years. We spoke for a while about serendipity. He'd just recently found the little pamphlet I given out to friends on my 50th Birthday, which included the photo of me by the Murray River that I'd only recently posted on my blog. He spoke for some reason about The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Apparently like many professors Pausch had been asked to consider what might be the last words he would like to impart. Since Randy had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer he reflected upon his childhood dreams. 'It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because 'time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think'). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
I don't imagine that I'll ever be a Professor, so will never be asked that question. But thinking about it now, I have to admit that I really don't know what I'd say. I think I'll just take a leaf out of Pausch's lecture, combine that with a little Buddhism and just a pinch of Horace and simply 'seize the day'. As someone once said 'And if not now, when?"
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