Do Not Let Your Bad Hand Stop you from Breaking the Wal

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Imagine sitting around a poker table, awaiting anxiously for the dealer to deal out the next cards, knowing that if you receive a good hand you will win. To your dismay, you stare in shock at the “bad” hand you received. However, it’s not necessarily the hand that is bad, but how you play the hand that can determine your fate. The same goes for life. In life, you will always be dealt good hands and bad hands, and sometimes, there is even a brick wall attached to these cards that symbolize the problems and struggles that accompany these cards. Even if you have a bad hand, if you play your cards the right way, the bad hand can transform into winning, successful hand. In The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, one of the life lessons he advocates is, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand” (17). Moreover, there will always be a brick wall, or challenges, in the cards we were dealt, and according to Pausch, we possess the power to rip down the wall and to deal with how we react to the cards we are dealt. Randy Pausch, the narrator of The Last Lecture, shares his insight about living during his last months of fighting pancreatic cancer. Pausch is a middle aged man who balances his family, his loving wife and three young children, and also his career as a professor and mentor at Carnegie Mellon. A few months after receiving the news of his terminal cancer, Pausch was asked to participate in a project called The Last Lecture, where professors share their knowledge and experiences to the students at Carnegie Mellon. This opportunity would be Pausch’s last chance to impart his wisdom to his students, colleagues, friends and most importantly, his family. In his lecture, Pausch did not want to talk about dying, but l... ... middle of paper ... ...m, n.d. Web. 26 May 2014. Schwamberger, Karen. Interview. By Olivia Schwamberger. 18 May 2014 Schwamberger, Olivia. Interview. By Julia Baldasare 13 May 2014 "Tribute to Randy Pausch - Story." Tribute to Randy Pausch - Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2014. "Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Dec. 2007. Web. 26 May 2014. Vandergriff, Steve. "You Can't Change the Cards You're Dealt, Just How You Play the Hand." Jacksonville.com. N.p., 17 July 2009. Web. 26 May 2014. Whitehead, MacKenzie. Interview. By Devin Pieples 13 May 2014 Whitehead, Pamela. Interview. By MacKenzie Whitehead. 18 May 2014 Wikimedia Commons. N.p., 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 May 2014. Yaeger, Dave. "The Star Wars Expanded Universe Is Dead.....Long Live the Star Wars Expanded Universe!" Killing Time. N.p., 27 Apr. 2014. Web. 26 May 2014.

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