Create a Life of Meaning

 Why do you think Randy Pausch was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams?

This speech impressed me very much for a several reasons.  First, his calm composure while undergoing an end of life illness was remarkable.  Second, it is clear that he was very intentional about his life and pursued goals with a high level of persistence.  The imagineering example was particularly interesting to me as it didn't happen in a traditional way.  He created an opportunity for a second ask, and then spent significant time preparing for the meeting.  Very impressive. 

 Do you feel that dreaming is important? Why or why not?

 Yes, I do feel dreaming is important, but it must be accompanied by the realities of work and sacrifice.  The zookeepers in the other talk are a great example to me of following a dream and persisting with it even though there is no glamour and lots of grime so to speak.  Daydreams, however, are not usually the things that lives are built upon.   Dreams that are not accompanied with work are not really dreams, but wishful thinking (daydreams). 

 Discuss at least one of your childhood dreams. Explain why you believe you can or cannot achieve this dream.

I don’t recall having career-based dreams as a child.  My parents both thought I should be an engineer.  As a child I was always finding things to tinker with – bikes, toys, broken things and I could always find a way to figure out the problem and solve it and fix the item.  I do remember as a teenager thinking I would like to have a job where I get to help people and so I had in my mind I would become a doctor.  It seemed logical, but there wasn’t any real passion behind it.  High school and college were abject failures for me.  And soon medical school was out of the question.   I didn’t really understand how to do school well, and my grades were horrible. 

 I think the closest I could come to realizing a childhood dream to help others is to identify real problems and work on solving them.  One that I see is the entanglement of healthcare and health insurance.  Employer paid health insurance (insurance is a risk finance tool) has created an opportunity for costs to go up over the years to the degree that it is a real issue both on the employee side and employer side.  Many of both cannot afford the insurance or the deductibles and coinsurance payments.  There are effective alternatives, but it takes knowledge of the supply chain and pricing mechanisms to sort it out.  I can help people in this respect and hope to continue to do so.