(ITA - 2015 - 1 FASE)THE MAN IN THE CONVERTIBLEOne

(ITA - 2015 - 1ª FASE)

THE MAN IN THE CONVERTIBLE

One morning, well after I was diagnosed with cancer, I got an email from Robbee Kosak, ⁷Carnegie Mellon’s vice president for advancement. She told me a story.

²²She said she had been driving home from work the night before, and ¹¹she found herself behind a man in a convertible. ¹It was a warm, gorgeous, early-spring evening, and the man had his top down and all his windows lowered. His arm was hanging over ⁸the driver’s side door, and his fingers were tapping along to the music on his radio. His head was bobbing along, too, ¹³as the wind blew through his hair.

Robbee changed lanes and pulled a little closer. From the side, she could see that the man had a slight smile on his face, the kind of ¹⁶absentminded smile a person might have when he’s all alone, happy in his own thoughts. ¹²Robbee found herself thinking: “Wow, this is the epitome of a person appreciating this day and this moment.”

The convertible ¹⁸eventually turned the corner, and that’s when Robbee got a look at ⁹the man’s full face. “Oh my God,” she said to herself. “It’s Randy Pausch!”

²She was so struck by the sight of me. She knew that my cancer diagnosis was grim. And yet, ¹⁴as she wrote in her email, ³she was moved by how contented I seemed. In this private moment, ⁴I was ¹⁹obviously in high spirits. Robbee wrote in her email: “You can never know how much that glimpse of you made my day, reminding me of what life is all about.”

I read ¹⁰Robbee’s email several times. I came to look at it ¹⁵as a feedback loop of sorts.

It has not always been easy to stay positive through my cancer treatment. When you have a dire medical issue, it’s tough to know how you’re ²⁰really faring emotionally. I had wondered whether a part of me was acting when I was with other people. Maybe at times I forced myself to appear strong and upbeat. Many cancer patients feel obliged to put up a brave front. Was I doing that, too?

But Robbee had come upon me in an unguarded moment. I’d like to think she saw me as I am. ⁵She ²¹certainly saw me as I was that evening.

Her mail was just a paragraph, but it meant a great deal to me. ⁶She had given me a window into myself. I was still fully ¹⁷engaged. I still knew life was good. I was doing OK.

Fonte: PAUSCH, R. The last lecture. New York, Hyperion, 2008. p. 64 - 65.

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