A hero to remember

By Chris Trout | August 3, 2008

It isn't so much that today's world lacks heroes. It's that the sheer number of choices leaves us feeling fractured and lost instead of calm and inspired. So when Randy Pausch YouTubed onto the scene with his Last Lecture, it was like someone turned off all the background noise and life got simple again.

Live joyfully.
Love well.
Be here now.

Nothing new, except this incredibly "regular" guy was living it - with death at his doorstep - joyfully, lovingly, now. And while he lived longer than they predicted, there was no Hollywood ending here. He died. Just like that, he left us behind, crying out, "Wait, I'm not quite there. I need more time. Right after this crisis. (It's been a hard week, you know?)"

But that's the thing about heroes. Whatever their foibles, in the grand scheme of things they just go ahead and do it - now. So in the silence of his passing, we are left with the only thing we ever had: This moment, and a hero to remind us…

Live joyfully.
Love well.
Be here now.