After reading “The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore I can understand what he means when he says “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine, the tragedy is that my story could have been his”. This is about two men who each had their own struggle growing up but one was able to succeed in life while the other is facing a life sentence behind bars. Wes Moore could have had a similar life as the other Wes Moore if his mother would have just given up on him. Credit should not be given just to his mother and family but also to Wes himself. Even after a rough start at his new life in military school, he was able to stick to it and give it a chance. Not everyone can adjust to change and some just refuse to do it. That is all up to the person
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Some need to struggle a little more and realize it on their own that there life has to change. In the case of the other Wes Moore he also made the decision to look for a better life “I’m done man, I want to get out. Do something different with my life” (Moore 138). He was tired of being in jail, being shot at and seeing his own family being destroyed by the drugs. It was a big decision, especially after so many years being in that kind of life and easy money. He was aware it would be difficult but had his mind set. There a time in someone’s life that they can look at it and realize it’s just not right. The path they are taking needs a change. It’s like they have walk so many years with a blind fold over their eyes and in seconds it falls, to realize they have not done anything productive with their lives. Their quick decisions to make changes in their life reminded me of Mel Robbins from TED Talk “How to Stop Screwing Yourself”. According to Robbins “When you have an impulse, you will need to take action within 5 seconds or the emergency brake will jump into action and it will kill the impulse” (Robbins, How to Stop Screwing Yourself over). When someone decides to take action and change their life or something in their routine if it doesn’t happen within those 5 seconds their body will go back to automatic, doing the same thing they have always done. It’s an impulse to take action right there and this is exactly what they did. Moore decided to give military school a chance. The other Moore decided to go to Job Corp to complete his GED and training. The same impulse took both of them to want change was also the same impulse that took the other Moore back to his old ways. Some people don’t give change the necessary time to help these changes take their course. Of course, many will probably disagree on the grounds that the other Wes Moore had more responsibilities than Moore during the
Some need to struggle a little more and realize it on their own that there life has to change. In the case of the other Wes Moore he also made the decision to look for a better life “I’m done man, I want to get out. Do something different with my life” (Moore 138). He was tired of being in jail, being shot at and seeing his own family being destroyed by the drugs. It was a big decision, especially after so many years being in that kind of life and easy money. He was aware it would be difficult but had his mind set. There a time in someone’s life that they can look at it and realize it’s just not right. The path they are taking needs a change. It’s like they have walk so many years with a blind fold over their eyes and in seconds it falls, to realize they have not done anything productive with their lives. Their quick decisions to make changes in their life reminded me of Mel Robbins from TED Talk “How to Stop Screwing Yourself”. According to Robbins “When you have an impulse, you will need to take action within 5 seconds or the emergency brake will jump into action and it will kill the impulse” (Robbins, How to Stop Screwing Yourself over). When someone decides to take action and change their life or something in their routine if it doesn’t happen within those 5 seconds their body will go back to automatic, doing the same thing they have always done. It’s an impulse to take action right there and this is exactly what they did. Moore decided to give military school a chance. The other Moore decided to go to Job Corp to complete his GED and training. The same impulse took both of them to want change was also the same impulse that took the other Moore back to his old ways. Some people don’t give change the necessary time to help these changes take their course. Of course, many will probably disagree on the grounds that the other Wes Moore had more responsibilities than Moore during the