Each Day Already is a Challenge

Oprah Show Today (be prepared to cry)

At 4 pm on weekdays, I usually have the Oprah show on in the other room. If something really interests me, I'll watch. Sometimes I'll just listen. And sometimes I don't have any idea what is happening on the show. It's just chatter in the background to keep me company.

Today as the show started, it caught my interest for two reasons. First, my sister graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and the guest was a professor there.

Secondly, the man who was being interviewed is dying of cancer. Because we've followed Budroe 's (and Raven's who was treated horribly by WDC folks) journey with cancer, that hit a chord with me. Watching both of these fine writers from afar makes me more aware of people and how they react to facing cancer.

Because of these things, I listened and watched today's Oprah show, and I'm glad that I did.

Here's what I wrote to my sisters to tell them about the show:

On the Oprah show today was Professor Randy Pausch, of Carnegie Mellon. He's dying of pancreatic cancer, and his last lecture has been viewed on YouTube by a million people. Oprah brought him on to have him do the lecture for her audience and viewers. Wow.

Here's the Oprah web site information:

http://www2.oprah.com/health/oz/oz_20071022_350_106.jhtml?promocode=HP13

From Oprah's site:

Randy Pausch is a married father of three, a very popular professor at Carnegie Mellon University—and he is dying. He is suffering from pancreatic cancer, which he says has returned after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors say he has only a few months to live.

In September 2007, Randy gave a final lecture to his students at Carnegie Mellon that has since been downloaded more than a million times on the Internet. "There's an academic tradition called the 'Last Lecture.' Hypothetically, if you knew you were going to die and you had one last lecture, what would you say to your students?" Randy says. "Well, for me, there's an elephant in the room. And the elephant in the room, for me, it wasn't hypothetical."


The Professor has three small children, and he told Oprah that he was glad that so many people benefited from his lecture, but he did it for his kids who will watch it when they're older.

If you click the link to Oprah's show, it will lead you to the taped lecture.