John Green gives Mr. Rogers-inspired commencement speech

A John Green commencement speech is as full of humor, self-deprecation and just a bit of sadness as you'd expect.

The Indy-based bestselling author returned to Kenyon College, his alma mater, to deliver a speech inspired by that greatest of communicators, Mr. Rogers.

"I want to spend one of those minutes, if you don’t mind, in silence," Green said. "This is a trick I learned from the children’s TV host Fred Rogers. If you don’t mind, I’d like us all — not just the students but all of us — to close our eyes and think for a minute, just a minute, about the people who loved us up into this moment — family and friends, teachers and kind strangers. I’ll keep the time."

John Green confirms Indy is a setting in next book

If this sounds familiar, it's because it's from Rogers' 1997 Lifetime Achievement Emmy Awards acceptance speech. It tends to make the viral rounds every so often. It usually ends in tears for all involved.

Green reminisced about the people — particularly the professors — who helped him through college. "Love is not like mass or energy — it is not conserved," he said in a line that could have come straight from one of his books. "And in the next 17 years, you will forget a lot, but you will not forget the kindness and generosity of those on this hilltop who were kinder and more generous than they needed to be."

Green also spoke on the horrors of adulthood. "Once you acquired adulthood, you’d start saying things like, 'Brand awareness in a fractured media landscape,' and, 'We need a president who knows how to get things done.' To be an adult meant engaging in totally unironic conversations about the weather." If you looked for a subversion of that theme from Green, you'll be disappointed. "Now this is the part of the Commencement address where I’m supposed to tell you that in fact adulthood isn’t so bad and blah blah blah but NO. NO. It is so bad. If anything, it is far worse than I could even have imagined."

John Green confirms Indy is a setting in next book

But growing up, being an adult, isn't about HOA meetings filled with squabbles about grass length — though that's part of it. No, Green said, being an adult is about thinking and listening. "I hope that listening will help inoculate you from the seductive lies of our time — the lie that strength and toughness are always assets, that selfishness is not just necessary but desirable, that the whole world benefits most when you act in your own narrow self-interest."

"At the homeowners’ association meeting, where the miserable adults are debating grass length, what they’re really doing is hashing out what kind of neighborhood they want to share," Green said. "When you are deciding between whole and term life insurance, you’re actually thinking of a world without you, and how you might be helpful to those you leave behind. And how lucky you will be to leave people behind, to have been woven so deeply into the interconnected web of the human story."

Watch the full speech below.

John Green is popular author of young adult books including "The Fault in Our Stars" and "Paper Towns." He is currently working on his next novel, which is set in Indianapolis and will involve the White River. He is also one half of the VlogBrothers YouTube channel.

Allison Carter is an engagement producer at IndyStar and knows that some infinities are greater than other infinities. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonLCarter.