Tatianna Griffin
What do you think of when you hear the title of the book The Other Wes Moore? Do you think of a good Wes and a bad Wes? Do you think of a successful Wes and a Wes serving a life sentence in prison for murder? What should really be interpreted from this story is the power of making the right decisions, the consequences of actions, and learning from them. This story encourages a spark in its readers to evaluate their own decisions in comparison to the decisions of the author and the other Wes Moore. From the perspective of college students, the story can be interpreted as enforcing personal responsibility, maintaining self-sufficiency, and demonstrating citizen leadership.
Having a strong sense of personal responsibility means many different things. Personal responsibility means recognizing and understanding the standards that society has set forth and abiding by those standards the best possible way one can. Personal responsibility also means having standards set for oneself, abiding by them, and taking the blame for actions committed by oneself that are in opposition to those standards.In The Other Wes Moore personal responsibility is demonstrated when the other Wes Moore accumulates a lot of money from dealing drugs and his brother Tony finds out. He tries to feed Tony lies so he doesn’t get angry, but lying only makes it worse. He tells Tony that he made the money DJing, and that results in Tony beating him up. Finally though, he stops and says to Wes, “If you won’t listen, that’s on you. You have potential to do so much more, go so much further. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink, right?” (Moore, 72) After this event and hearing his older brother and role model speak these wise words to him, he has to realize and understand that he has a decision to make and that whatever choice he makes has consequences and he must take responsibility for whatever choice he makes. He ends up continuing to sell drugs and get involved on the wrong side of the law. That was his decision and it is his responsibility to deal with the resulting consequences, which ultimately lead to his incarceration for life for murder of a police officer. That is an example of negative personal responsibility; however, it shows readers how one bad move can cost them their freedom and ultimately their lives.
Being self-sufficient is having the ability to supply all of one’s own needs without the help of outside assistance. The author struggled with self-sufficiency as a child because he needed the approval from his mother and depended on her being proud of him. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore was forced to become independent and self-sufficient. His father was no where near in his life to help support him, so his mother had to work multiple jobs with long hours, and his brother was never home because he was on the streets selling drugs. So he had no choice but to provide for himself and try and make decisions in order to survive in his life situation. There is also a time at the end of the story where the author Wes Moore draws a parallel between the self-sufficiency of the young boys in South Africa and of the boys he grew up with. He states, “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.” (Moore 170) With that statement he shows how the boys in South Africa he is observing now as an adult have to have a similar amount of self-sufficiency in order to survive just like the boys he grew up with did.
Citizen leaders are the type of people that fill Longwood’s community and make it the great campus and community that it is. Citizen leadership entails having good character, making positive influences on society, and making positive contributions for the good of society and everyone in it. In the text, as an adult, the other Wes Moore decides to try and turn his life around by getting involved with Job Corps. He was one of the top students in his class. He ended up completing his classes and getting his GED. As soon as this happened he became a role model for other students. They began to look up to him for their own prep for getting their GED. They saw him as a trusted figure they could talk to about their personal problems. They saw him as someone they could form friendships with. He became a positive influence in the community of GED pursuers. He portrayed the traits of citizen leadership by helping them and making sacrifices that resulted in the good of others.
The book The Other Wes Moore connects to the life of college students in more than ways than one and presents more lessons than one may originally think. College students should have all these qualities that either the author or the other Wes Moore had. College students need to have a sense of personal responsibility. If they do not complete an assignment given by their professor they will receive a failing grade. That is no one’s fault but theirs and they have to take responsibility for their decision. They cannot blame anyone but themselves because there is no one else to blame. No one forced them to not complete the assignment. It was their choice. College students need to be self-sufficient. In college, it is a time to become extremely, if not completely, independent. No one is here to hold your hand and guide you through it all. Parents and families aren’t here for college students to call on so easily like they did in grade school. They must learn to things by themselves, or else they will continue to be dependent and it will just get harder for them to ever become independent. College students need to be citizen leaders. As a college student, I believe we need to create a generation of citizen leaders in order to show older generations that we can make a positive difference and that they raised us well and to show younger generations how it is, first-hand, to make a difference in the world and show them how they can do the same. Some things college students should take away from this story is that education is imperative for success. Without education, there is no way any generation could succeed and make our communities a better place. Also, carefully make decisions. Think proactively instead of reactively. Think about what the consequences of certain decisions would be and how they affect you and others in the future because if you don’t the consequences could be dire… just ask the Wes Moore that has given up his freedom in order to waste away behind metal bars because of a bad decision.