The Other Wes Moore Essay

This book depicts the lives of two men named Wes Moore. Wes Moore, the author, has written the book to show how small changes can make a difference in a persons if. He does this by telling his story, and by telling the story of another man named Wes Moore. The common quote of this book is “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” Through this quote many would believe the story was summarized quite well. Some of the reason is the fact that the two men were raised in similar neighborhoods and crews of friends. They also had similar families, in the way that they both had no father. For the obvious reasons, both men were of African descent, and had the same name.
As the story tells the similarities, it also tells the differences between the two men as they grew up. The one, the author, is a Rhodes Scholar, a decorated combat veteran, a White House Fellow, and a business leader. Wes Moore, the other one, is serving a life sentence in jail for murder. Many wonder how this happened since they both had parallel backgrounds. There were only a few key points that really changed their paths.
Author of the book’s mother wanted to make sure that her children had grown up to the best they could possibly be. Though Wes did not have a father, his mother tried to fill that role. She did so by moving their family to upstate New York, and putting him in a military school because their old neighborhood had become violent and drug infested. Also Wes had been getting into trouble, and his mother knew that needed to change. Thankfully Wes’s mother could do this with a little help from her parents, and two jobs.
On the opposing side, the other Wes Moore wasn’t so lucky. His mother failed to care for his future. She was heavily involved with drugs, and Wes’s only “father figure” was his older brother. He was also