My life is very hectic these days; I am a high school senior, but I am currently enrolled in four college courses. This past summer I started on college and scholarship applications, which are strenuous and time consuming. I am sure that you are fully aware, since you attended such prestigious universities. Before I began the applications I was academically insecure. I was unsure of how I would manage and eventually be successful in the process. I knew that I would need a great deal of inspiration, and that came from your book The Last Lecture.
Reading your book and watching other lectures of yours provided me with the confidence boost I needed. It allowed me to see the talents that I already possessed, but clouded with insecurity. It ensured me that I am not my struggles, I am bigger than them. By hearing what you went through and seeing that you did not let it keep you down let me know that I could overcome anything that was troubling me.
My father died April 09, 2005, and his death was difficult for me to get through. As a young child I could not process what was going on, so I grew up with an aura of confusion. However, as I matured the grieving process became much easier. I felt like I was healthily dealing with my father’s death until I finally realized that I carried a ton of emotional baggage. In reading The Last Lecture I was able to identify my emotional baggage and also release it. I actually forgot what it felt like to live freely, because I was trapped in my own mind for six years. Now that I have escaped, I allow myself to branch out to new people and things.
I would like to connect with your children, because I have an idea of what they went through, and I think our meeting could be a learning experience for all of us. I admire what you did, preparing yourself and your family for the impending circumstances. I am not completely sure if my father knew he was going to pass away, but if he did I would have appreciated him leaving something for my sister and me that could guide us through the remainder of our childhood and into adulthood. I missed the small wisecracks and lessons that fathers usually serve. I have come to terms with missing those small moments, but I am happy that your children could experience that slither of normalcy.
You actually had a part in my forming my aspirations. Partly because of your career and the way you passed away I want to become a biomedical engineer. My ultimate life’s goal is to improve health care and the human condition. I want to conduct medical research and create medical technologies that will cure or treat pernicious diseases. Aside from that, I hope to inspire individuals the way that you have inspired me and others that I have recommended the book to.
Reading your book changed my outlook on life. I have not been the same since first reading your book in the ninth grade, and again this past summer. Your “Last Lecture” was my first lecture in the sense that it was an awakening for me. Reading and seeing your lectures diminished many of my fears. There are going to be many variables in my life, but I do not have to live every moment in fear of what will happen next. It also taught me to live in the moment and to never take my time and opportunities for granted.
Even though your days were limited and numbered you maximized them, and that inspired me. Having someone very close to me die made me paranoid of death, but seeing you face the death head on made me realize that I should not be so paranoid, because I can make the best out of my life before my time to go comes just as you did.
