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The other Wes Moore grew up pretty much in the same environment as the author Wes Moore did. But his life ended up very different because of the choices he made when he was younger. For example at the young age of 12 Wes got involved in selling drugs when his mother Mary found his stash of drugs it should have been a warning sign and there should have been steps taken to prevent this from happening but nothing was taken, "She reached again for the first Nike box and opened it. Inside were pills, marijuana, half an ounce  of powdered cocaine, and half a dozen vials of "ready rock," or crack cocaine"(73). This shows that the other Wes Moore was selling drugs and at a very young age. If he got caught this could greatly affect his adult life in which it did since it made him choose the choices that he did.

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As the other Wes Moore grew up he needed to help support his growing family so he enrolled in Job Corps. Which could give him his GED if he completed it, "In the first phase of Job Corps,student are tested to place them at the right level of GED training. One day after they took the test,the results came back..." "Wes, finished near the top of his class. He completed the course work and received his GED a month later..."(142). With this action it looked as the though the other Wes Moore was going to get on the right track. But even though he tried to take the step to get his life back on track. It didn't fix the problem that occurred later on in his life.

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As a toddler, Wes, the book's author, had a loving family, successful parents and a nice home in Maryland. Then, when he was just 3 years old, his life took a dramatic turn. His father died suddenly from a rare virus. Unable to raise three children on her own, Wes' mother, Joy, moved her family to the Bronx to live with her parents.

Joy enrolled her children in a respected private school across town in an attempt to protect them from the drugs and gangs infiltrating their neighborhood. Young Wes soon discovered how hard it was to straddle both worlds.

"I was very lost during that period," Wes says. "I found myself quickly becoming too rich for the kids in the neighborhood and too poor for the kids at school."

Wes became a troublemaker. He says he set off smoke bombs in lockers, skipped school and was even picked up by the police. When Joy realized she was starting to lose her son, she decided to take action.

After years of telling Wes she would send him away to military school, she made good on her threat. Wes' grandparents mortgaged their home so they could afford to send their 12-year-old grandson to a Pennsylvania military school.

"I didn't want to be there," Wes says. "I ran away five times in the first four days, but I started to begin to think about why I was there and about the opportunity that this was to really reshape my identity and do something different."

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rhodes scholar convicted murderer twist fate wes moore more other wesley maryland baltimore jail prison police officer

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As a toddler, Wes, the book's author, had a loving family, successful parents and a nice home in Maryland. Then, when he was just 3 years old, his life took a dramatic turn. His father died suddenly from a rare virus.

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Left- Author Wes. Right- the Other Wes

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Left- Other Wes Moore's fate. Right- Author Wes Moore's fate.

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The author is great example of how your choices can determine your fate because he had the choice to get involved in crime. He also had the choice to do well in school. And he choose to take those chances and live the life he has chosen. This is an ending quote of the book and it states, " As I wrote at the outset of this book: The chilling truth is that Wes's story could have been mine;the tragedy is that my story could have been his. My only wish-and I know Wes feels that same-is that the boys (and girls) who come after us will know this freedom. It's up to, all of us, to make a way for them" (180).

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With this quote in mind it shows that if either one of them choose to do something different with their lives. Their lives could have ended up differently then they did.

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As a young child the author Wes Moore wanted to put his name out in the world so instead of going to school he spent his time doing graffiti as Kid Kupid. This choice really set his life in the track that it did. The events that lead after that really show that depending on the choices that he made really did determine his fate. Because the author went to a military school he got out of the environment that he was previously in the school that ended up attending was Valley Forge Military Academy, "Welcome to military school. Valley Forge Military Academy is in Wayne , Pennsylvania. It's on the prestigious Main Line, just twenty-five minutes outside Philadelphia, on a rolling campus surrounded by overgrown foliage..."(89). Due to going to that school he got his life back on track and was able to live the life that he was able to unlike the other Wes Moore.

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There is a poem at the end of the book and it does a great job of describing our theme,
"Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid
It matters not how strait the gate,           How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul"(183).