"You are all going to die" Joss Whedon's Commencement Speech at Wesleyan

Wesleyan has posted a transcript of Whedon's speech, which starts with a story about the commencement speech he heard during his Wesleyan graduation ceremony. Bill Cosby asserted that there was no point in trying to change the world, a claim with which Whedon naturally took issue.

And so, what I’d like to say to all of you is that you are all going to die.

This is a good commencement speech because I’m figuring it’s only going to go up from here. It can only get better, so this is good. It can’t get more depressing. You have, in fact, already begun to die. You look great. Don’t get me wrong. And you are youth and beauty. You are at the physical peak. Your bodies have just gotten off the ski slope on the peak of growth, potential, and now comes the black diamond mogul run to the grave. And the weird thing is your body wants to die. On a cellular level, that’s what it wants. And that’s probably not what you want.