"You are all going to die", Joss Whedon says toward the beginning of his Commencement Address to the 181st Wesleyan University Graduates, where he also received an Honorary Doctorate this past Sunday. He continued, "You have all, in fact, already begun to die." I mean, how else would a Joss Whedon Commencement Address start? Luckily his speech got much deeper and more twisty and awesome, of course...eventually leading to the kick-ass: "To accept duality is to earn identity" and "the best thing is losing a debate. Because it means you’ve learned something and you’ve changed your position." Come on, now.
Definitely check out the video below of Joss in his cap and gown regalia and read the full transcript after the jump. [courtesy Tor.com]
“Two roads diverged in a wood and…” No! I’m not that lazy.
I sat through many graduations. When I was sitting where you guys [Wesleyan class of 2013] are sitting the speaker was Bill Cosby. He was very funny and he was very brief and I thank him for that. He gave us a message that I really took with me, and that a lot of us never forgot, about changing the world. He said, “You’re not gonna change the world, so don’t try.”
That was it! He didn’t buy that back at all. And then he complained about buying his daughter a car and then we left. And I remember thinking…you know I think I can do better. I think I can be a little more inspiring than that.
So, what I’d like to say to all of you is that you are all going to die.
