Last Lecture

The news of the passing away of Rev. Usha Rani Subharam, a dear colleague at Gurukul, just reached me. Some of us teachers die after prolonged illness, like Usha. Some others depart rather abruptly, like Lalitha, my sister in law. Lali was Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS, Bangalore and passed away rather suddenly last year.

Whether our departure is gradual or abrupt, what would we leave behind? What would our last lecture be? What do we wish it had been?

The “last lecture” has a long tradition in academic circles. Last lectures are often delivered by departing professors and those imagining they were. It is an occasion when academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what message would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?" The exercise usually elicits light hearted advice, bittersweet reminiscing, and some personal reflection.

The practice of last lecture was revived recently by Randy Pausch shortly after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The 47 year old Pausch was one of the foremost computer scientists in the United States and served as professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His last lecture, delivered last September to a packed audience and telecast to millions elsewhere, was meant as a parting gift to his three young children. In his lecture Pausch was in his usual upbeat and humorous mood and offered earnest advice on life and how to live it. He stated: “I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left. There is no other way to play it…”

Randy Pausch died one week ago but the practice of last lecture had caught on. On April 17, David Skorton, President of Cornell University in his last lecture, stressed one of the fundamental aspects of an intellectual: a spirit of inquiry. He stated: “If someone asks me what is the most important attribute for a citizen to have, I would say curiosity. If you will stay in touch with the curiosity you’ve had since birth, what you do, you will enjoy it more, you will be able to make more of a difference, and you have a more satisfying life.”

In her last lecture, Alice Laffey, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, harped on the need to ask oneself fundamental questions about life and the meaning of life. She said: “It is not enough to ask, “what?” and “why?” about the world, as important as that is. One must ask those same questions about oneself. What do I love? What do I believe really? Do I love this more than that? Why did I act that way? Why did I say that? Why do I feel this way?

In conclusion, Laffey recalled Ignatius of Loyola who counseled the Jesuits to take time each day - if possible twice daily - to examine themselves and ask: What really do I desire?