By By Dane Roberts Wans On Bookreview
How many of us remember the commencement speech given when we graduated from high school? Of those who do, how many wish they had the transcript? Not that the speech was anything great, but maybe you wanted to have one to be able to refer back to and see how far you have come. Mostly we remember the time it took sitting there and wishing we were someplace else. Remembering our high school commencement speech was not a top priority. The question to ask is: Of all that has been said at graduation is there ever anything new to say?
“I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up?” Have you ever said that to yourself?
Maria Shriver asked the question — in the presence of her teenage daughter no less — and responded, “This is it for you. You are all grown up. You’re cooked!”
That incident brought about this little booklet of 91 pages. It is a record of the speech Shriver gave as a graduation speech to a high school class. It all began when her nephew asked her to give the commencement speech at his high school graduation and she accepted.
Shriver states, “Who you are and who you will be has everything to do with your heart and soul.” The premise of this speech as recorded here is that we are all a work in process. Who we are is not based on what we do but on what we are inside.
Is this book necessary? Do we really need another feel good inspirational tome?
Sometimes it seems that the speakers called to give these speech at graduations are those who have already achieved and the hope seems to be on the part of the teachers that it will somehow rub off on the students. For Shriver, who is mostly known as the governor’s wife, was it worth it to let the reader know that it is OK to be who you are? She used to be a news anchor woman. She has a history in politics. Yet at the moment she is none of these. She just is. She can look back and see the many books she wrote. But this isn’t her. She reminds us we are not what we do or who we know. It is who we are inside. This booklet may be something that can be referred back to from time to time.
She closes this work with the 10 things she pledged to herself. Then she leaves a space for the reader to put down 10 things they can pledge to themselves. This alone would be a reason to get this booklet, just so you can have a record of the 10 things you pledge to your self.
Feedback is always appreciated. Dane Robert Swanson can be contacted at
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 9, 2008. Read the original PDF.