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A theme that I found prevalent in the novel was spirit and fortitude. Wes Moore’s mother continued to seek to help Wes find himself after many encounters with the law and drugs. Wes was moving down the wrong path. His father’s death left her sleeping in a living room for years, not wealthy, she used the money from their fund to provide equipment and training in respiratory/cardiac arrest. She moved to the Bronx to pursue a better hope for her children. She sent Wes to a private school, she sent him to military school, while working multiple jobs to support the family. No matter what struggles Wes and his two sisters brought to her she always got up and continued to persevere through a tough giving. Wes says, “Things were falling apart...She worked multiple jobs...She had to provide for us, and she was helping out her parents, who were living off two small pensions.” (Wes Moore, 47). His mother’s life was tough but so was everyone else's’ in the Bronx and West Baltimore. Truth is almost no one has it easy and given to them on a plate, you must work for what you want and get up and keep going when you can’t anymore.

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As I came to acknowledge to myself that life has its upbringings and downfalls, I realized that there were two primary statements that have stuck out to me. Tony always told Wes to stay out of trouble and to finish school but he also told him to “send a message”. For Wes,  this stuck in his psyche. Wes was troubled by Ray, who was spying on Alicia who just came out of his home at one o’clock in the morning. Wes’ thoughts were out of indignation, “Pulled out the shoe box that held his 9mm Beretta and a few full clips...He was blind with rage. Instincts came in. Tony’s words rang through his mind. Send a message.” (Wes Moore, 104). Wes was taught to protect himself and his family, Wes filled with exasperation did not think of the consequences he may have after shooting Ray. Not feeling guilt or any sense of emotion other than bewilderment. Going to school in Russia was very onerous and on top of that, almost every young boy knew about acts of assault. I came home one day beat up, head to toe, my dad told me to not touch anyone for any reason so I followed his commands, but this time his words were different. He said “next time you see this boy, you do what you have to do. No one should touch you”. I went back to school the next day and did what he taught me to do, fight. Not proud but relieved I can protect myself. Secondly, the proclamation, “Someone always has it worse” perplexed in my head after seeing how different Toronto is in relation to West Baltimore. Wes stated, “Fuck God...If he does exist then he sure doesn’t spend any time in West Baltimore.” (Wes Moore, 140). Wes was agitated with how apprehensive and strenuous it was to make a living and live up to everyones expectations, knowing that in West Baltimore African-American children like Wes were to end up selling drugs, not graduating from school, and ending up in prison. The lives of me and Wes are much distinctive, but thoughts that occur in our minds have a relation.

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The memoir “The Other Wes Moore” assuredly shocked me and my perspective on the outside world and the many aspects of social life that leave an impression on us. Many might be left with repercussions to follow like the other Wes Moore or may endeavor to do something extraordinary and remarkable like Wes did. Both stories have a beginning and an end and both have left a mark in my subconscious to think about. As I read the book I came upon various communal impediments that these kids went through. Poverty, becoming a father at a young age, white supremacy, drugs, violence, most things that I, myself, never had to encounter. The murders in the city of New York only grew, Wes Moore reveals that,
 “From the early 1980’s to the end of the decade, there was an almost 61 percent jump in the murder rate...In 2008, there were 417 homicides...In 1990, there were 2,605...Concentrated in a single demographic: young black men.” (Wes Moore, 51)
As a white male, I never had to go through the daily struggles of perceiving that I am not a murderer and a drug dealer. I am seen as superior, but why? I am no different. I faced violence on many occasions living in Russia. This brought up a question in my head, ‘Is violence the same everywhere? If you seek it you will find it, if you hang around the “wrong” people you will find it, what am I supposed to do? How do you stay away from it when you were brought into that world?’ It is deceiving at times and hard to tell the difference between right and wrong, making a mistake one time can be a misunderstanding, but making a mistake more than once is just a lesson retold again that has not yet been refined and informed by the individual. It can be a way of life for many, just how it was a way for the other Wes Moore to subsist and make a living for his four children by encountering violence and drug dealing.

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Wes Moore’s New York Times Bestseller novel highlights the importance of education, influence of a father figure, and the limited concern for drug abuse and gang related brutality and struggle. The end of this memoir concludes by Wes Moore that, 
“The chilling truth is that Wes’ story could have been mine; the tragedy is that my story could have been his. My only wish-and I know Wes feels the same-is that the boys (and girls) who come after us will know this freedom” (Wes Moore, 180).
The two Wes Moore’s living two separate lives in the same neighborhoods were set out by their knowledge and inexperience to find their own self. Without a father figure influencing their education and awareness for the outside world, the two children had to figure it out on their own. As Wes’ sentence is handed to him like a teenage boy getting handcuffed, he feels alone, unforgiven and relatively feeling no emotion. Wes Moore reveals Wes’ mental reflection in this statement, “Wes had spent much of his adolescence incarcerated...He’d never thought long term about his life...Early losses condition you to believe that short-term plans are always smarter... Wes’ mind wandered to the long term for the first time. Finally, he could see his future.” (Wes Moore, 157). Wes’ “like” for school wistfully never took place. The father he imagined to have did not even recognize him at his Aunt’s house. Wes liked the idea of having a father and son bond like his friend Woody and his father. His brother Tony was the closest thing to a father he had, himself one of the biggest drug dealers in the city, Tony told Wes everyday to follow a different path but he chose to go left just like Tony did. Drugs and gang related violence is a massive issue and business for some in the 21st century. Article on Newsday, in Long-Island, of an a homicide involving a young girl who set up her ex-boyfriend part of the 18th street gang to get killed by her new boyfriend part of the MS-13 gang states that, ‘Mejia and other MS-13 members smoked marijuana with Campos-Sandoval in the woods near the Uniondale water tower to put him at ease, Fitzpatrick said. "They butchered him, hit him and buried him," Fitzpatrick said.’ (Newsday). Gang violence and drug abuse has found a way to influence the lives of Mejia (girlfriend) and her boyfriend as well as his crew. Your life is short and can change with one mistake, the act of killing another human being or involving yourself in drugs can change your life just like it has changed Wes’. The consequences of no education, no father, and involvement in drugs and gangs can cause a vigorously giving life.

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The eerie and bitterness at the center of the heart and soul of a person is contrastingly different from one another. The novel “The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore, undoubtedly overlooks the issues and controversy around poverty, gang violence, substance abuse, and growing up without a father figure. It exemplifies how every person has control of their own destiny and they choose their future paths through values, beliefs, and virtues they were taught at a young age. However, for many individuals, growing up was a lost cause and by learning and teaching yourself you were able to make some sort of living in this confounding world. This one picture has two sides, one side is Wes Moore and the other side is the other Wes Moore. Walking the same streets, living the same street life and coping with the same satire drug, violence, and hatred, these two young boys had to set their own futures. The other Wes Moore struggling to find what he needs, knowing he needs money, finds himself in a world of doom. Wes Moore mentions that, “The pressure was breaking Wes down...His mother needed more money because she was raising both Wes’ and Tony’s kids...He’d realized long ago that crying does no good...Wes held the plastic bag with both hands and poured in nine ounces of cocaine” (Wes Moore, 145). After quitting drug dealing and finishing at JobCorps College, he began work, his pay was cut to a greater degree, and his depression grew. His only way out was to start selling drugs again, at least then he may support his family and the new family he has started with Alicia and Cheryl. After attending military school Wes Moore was set out with monumental plans after changing his life into a whole different direction. He stated, “In both places, young men go through a daily struggle trying to navigate their way through deadly streets, poverty, and the twin legacies of exclusion and low expectations.” (Wes Moore, 170). No matter which way you take, left or right, your mindset changes throughout the paths. You may become a first-degree felony murderer or a composed civil man. Your life choices are brought or seeked out by you as Wes Moore discloses, “It’s up to us, all of us.” (Wes Moore, 180). Whether you choose to go left or right your choice is accountable to you, focus on the long term of things rather than the short term because the short term can leave you spending the rest of your life in prison without the possibility of parole.