i was watching The Oprah Winfrey Show (Oct 07 ep.) and the topic was about how to handle death...
It's a dreadful topic to talk about and i was very inspired by this person named Randy Pausch...
He was an American
professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was a father of 3 children, at the time of publish, they were only aged 6, 3 and 1 years old... He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and only had months to live when he gave his "Last Lecture" and it was really about achieving your childhood dreams. He said "most of the time, our greatest regrets are not the things we've done but the things we have not done..." The last lecture in Sept 07 started with 400 students. Which later was brought to the limelight through internet- youtude ,media coverage and even written book and he was featured in Times magazine as one of The World's Top 100 most influential people. Fame was not his original intention, but rather all these things which he had done through these months was for 3 person - and they were his children. He focused more on what his children is going to lose than on what he's going to lose.
He passed away on 25 July 2008.
With only less than 10 months, a passion and love for his children started this process of saying goodbye which impacted millions and millions of people all over the world. Time will pass when everyone forgets such a person. But not to ,at least, his children.
He's such a rare gem for only one reason i can think of and that is the Love for his family... with good intentions and was not afriad to show it and say it and made them understand.
It's almost crazy to think that "oh you're not talking to me and you're always angry all the time. but i know you love me and that's your style of showing it"
Kids ,more than anything else, needs to know that their parents love them.
right~ i'm no longer a kid...
What is Love then?
Love is about building a relationship. Givings to others. be it time, money, material goods, understanding....
Thats what it is.
if you're intersted to read more this is one of the many links available...
"A Final Farewell"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120951287174854465.htmlPersonally i think everyone should read this....
