The Other Wes Moore

The Two with Different Paths How do two boys with the same name who live within the same community end up with lives on two completely different paths? The author, Wes Moore, begins life in a tough Baltimore neighborhood and ends up a Rhodes Scholar, Wall Streeter, White House Fellow, etc. The other Wes Moore starts in the same place in Baltimore but ends up in prison FOR LIFE. The parallels in their stories aren't quite as compelling as they may appear initially. For example, the other Wes Moore spends a number of his developmental years living in the Bronx, NY, whereas his namesake never leaves Baltimore and its suburbs. Though Wes Moore is shipped off to military school (after his antisocial behavior in a privileged private school), his educational path is decidedly better than his namesake's because of his mother's ambition. Wes Moore hit a quick reality check when he was sent to military school. He stated, "I knew my mother was considering sending me away, but I never thought she'd actually do it" (87). Wes Moore, in a sense, thought he was too good for military school. But, he soon learned he needed to adapt to his new environment because he was going to be there for a while. During the time Wes Moore was in military school, he stated, "That's when I started to understand that I was in a different environment. Not simply because I was in the middle of Pennsylvania instead of the Bronx or Baltimore. It was a different psychological environment, where my normal expectations were inverted, where leadership was honored and class clowns were ostracized." (Moore 96) The other Wes Moore doesn't have this much support or as much "push" from home, although his mother was encouraging of his positive development. Further, the other Wes Moore has an older brother who in trying to dissuade him from pursuing his own example of a life in the streets ends up encouraging him to do just that. Moore quoted, "He –Wes- loved his brother but had