Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.
- James Dean
- James Dean
Goodbye to Randy Pausch!
It was a coincidence, but it became more meaningful if I linked those two things together.
Yesterday, I first came to know the quotation in the beginning of this post:"Dream as if you'll live forever; live as if you'll die today". At the time I was wondering in Target aimlessly. I just bought a car and drove myself to this super market. It made me feel excited and powerful to control this big toy. But on the other hand, I had a strong feeling I should do something more meaningful. The first year of my PhD life seemed so flat. There was nothing noticeable and I am not sure what I should do in the future. Then I went by the picture & frame section, a poster with a white-black portrait of a serious man attracted my eyes: there were a line saying "Dream as if you'll live forever; live as if you'll die today" and the man was James Dean.
This morning I heard of the death of Randy Pausch in New York Times: Randy Pausch, 47, Dies; His ‘Last Lecture’ Inspired Many to Live With Wonder. I expected this result when I first heard of Randy Pausch: miracles seldom happens in real life. Randy was a virtual reality pioneer, a computer scientists and a professor at CMU. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in Aug. 2006; then he gave a series of lectures called "The Last Lecture" in the year of 2007, which inspired many people thanks to the internet. His most memorable lecture was about his childhood dreams and how he achieved them. If he had ever heard of James' words, he must have a better understanding of it.
