Living Life with Death

Being a huge fan of Oprah, I usually find myself watching her show on weekday afternoons at 4pm. And this past Tuesday that is exactly what I did, and I am thankful for catching such an astonishing episode. The theme of the show was centered around two people who know they are sick and literally dying, and what they are doing about it. We all face death, but the subject matter seems too morbid and scary for most people to discuss in the open. What would you do if you were faced with your mortality?

The first was a young woman named Kris with a rare form of cancer. She was beautiful and had a great sense of humor. She had a drive to tackle her sickness and let her learn about life along the way, and recorded video of it throughout. Kris sought out ways in which she could find alternative therapy through eating healthier and practicing yoga. How does she maintain such a positive outlook? She says she focuses on the moment of living rather than on dying. "How do you live your life with the knowledge of cancer? I might not be able to get rid of it, but I can't let that ruin my life." And on top of it all, she even got married while she was ill and had no regrets about it. She said her and her husband agreed that "None of us know how long we have, so let's go. We love each other and we're an awesome team." To me, this defines what is absolutely beautiful and fascinating about life. But Kris didn't stop with the words of inspiration there. She left by saying that "I think just go for it. Life is a terminal condition. We're all going to die. Cancer patients might have more information, but we all, in some ways, wait for that great permission to live."

The second was Dr. Randy Pausch, a male professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and married father of three children. He is also dying and suffering from pancreatic cancer. Doctors told him he has only a few months to live. Back in September 2007, Dr. Pausch gave his last lecture to his students at Carnegie Mellon. I decided to include the video of the lecture on here so you can see for yourself just how powerful this message is about achieving life when someone is faced with death. Enjoy his last lecture and take every word in.

In light of the holiday today, I wanted to say Happy Father's Day to Dr. Pausch and Tim Russert for being loving fathers to their children, as well as inspirations. And also Happy Father's Day to my Dad for being my own personal hero.