Famous last words

In recent years, the Catholic Campus Ministry at Southeast Missouri State University has invited professors to deliver a "last lecture" -- 30 minutes to say whatever they would say if they knew this was the last lecture they would ever give.

Think about that. What would you say if you knew these were the last words you would ever utter? Would you give your listeners the wisdom you've accumulated? Would you comfort them. Or would you give them something astonishing to think about?

Some last words are famous. "You too, Brutus?" Julius Caesar said to his friend, who then stabbed him in the groin. Abraham Lincoln went out laughing. "Rosebud," said Charles Foster Kane in "Citizen Kane."

The Campus Catholic Ministry lectures aren't intended to be dying words but rather a short discourse about whatever gives meaning to the lecturer's life.

Barry Bernhardt, the university's director of bands, gave the most recent last lecture. He told the Southeast Missourian the lecture was probably one of the scariest things he has ever prepared for. He would talk about God, his family, music and friends, a list of priorities many people could subscribe to.

What gives meaning to your life? That's a question worth answering every day.