2643 Becs' question answered

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Demetri Martin’s fortune cookie:
"When love and skill are combined, expect a masterpiece."

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A few posts back (#2629) I offered to answer any question asked. Becs asks, "If you got to give a "Last Lecture" like Randy Pausch, what do you think you would talk about?"

Well, first I had to find out what Randy Pausch's lecture was about. It was easy to find on YouTube. I watched it in bits and pieces over several days. He spoke on childhood dreams and aspirations, and making them happen, how they happened for him. He was lucky - his dreams were within his abilities to make happen.

I don't recall ever having any childhood dreams, other than surviving long enough to get out of the house, so I guess I'd have to talk about something else.

I'd probably pick doing one's own thing.

From birth we are pushed and prodded, led and lectured. We are told we have to do this, adhere to that standard, meet those expectations. We have to wear the right clothes, hold the right beliefs. We finally get out on our own, and we still hear those voices in our heads. Advertising tells us what we want and need to demonstrate "success", otherwise we are less than those who do have these things. Books and neighbors tell us how to raise our children. The work environment pressures us into a mold, to suit the company, not us. Our families and (some) friends demand deference and homage, again to suit themselves, not our needs. And we accept all of it, because we've been taught that all these outside influences, society, knows what's best for us better than we do, and it's important to satisfy those influences in order to be respected.

Uh uh. Bull poopy. It's all brain rot.

We need a healthy dose of skepticism. We need to know that we are important, that our needs are as important as those of anyone else. We need to know that anyone who judges us on our adherence to the standard wisdom is not worth impressing. We have an instinctual sense of what we want and need, and we mostly need the courage to go against society's demands. We need to learn to live our own life, not a life defined by others.

And that's what I'd talk about.
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