The Other Wes Moore Blog 2 - Quarter 4 Blog 3

Summary

As Wes (#2) began to recognize the kind of money he can make by pleasing someone on the street when times are hard, he began to really make money which left his brother Tony, who was a veteran of the streets for a while now, began to notice what was going on. Wes's mother was the first to recognize the way Wes had dressed with top of the line shoes and shirts and had had asked Wes where he had gotten the money to purchase that kind of clothing for a boy like himself when money was slow for the Moores. Wes had told his mother that he had earned the money DJing which he had passed on to his brother but Tony didn't believe a single word. Tony had told Wes, "If you won't listen, that's on you. You have the potential to do so much more, go so much farther. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, right?" After so many times of Tony telling his brother to stay out of the drug game and to live an honest life, Wes "wanted to be just like Tony, Tony wanted Wes to be nothing like him." Those quotes prove how much Tony cared about Wes and tried to mold him into an honest person for life but Wes couldn't take that because he didn't have a father to look up to.
The OTHER Wes was almost the same story. He had been taken over by hip-hop which caused him to get caught with the wrong people and eventually arrested and let go with a warning for tagging a wall. This then led to Wes slacking in school and had soon caught the attention of his mother. Wes's mother had no choice but to send Wes to military school and became a HUGE part of Wes's future success. He was a star on the basketball team and was getting scouted by Harvard in junior high! Military school had absorbed Wes and Wes had a passion for his country after he had learned so much about it and got the education he needed.
Meanwhile, back to the other Wes, he had just become a father to a girl he had met on a bus ride to school with his god brother. It had left his mother a 36 year old grandmother and was, at the same time, having a baby of her own as well. To support his family, Wes had dropped out of high school and was deep in the drug game. Wes was constantly in and out of jail for drugs and drugs had soon took over the the life of Wes's girlfriend. Wes had no choice but to leave his kids with his mother while he decided to finally work an honest job as a carpenter. Soon enough, he gave up that decision and chose a different path. On February of 2000, Tony, Wes, and 2 other men robbed a jewelry store and stole $438,000 worth of watches, they fled. Just before peeling out in their vehicle, they shot 35 year old security guard Sergeant Bruce Pathero three times to his death. Wes and Tony fled to Philadelphia together and were soon caught and arrested. They were both tried in court and sentenced to life in prison without parole on a first degree murder. A quote I read stated, "Early losses condition you to believe that short term plans are always smarter. Now Wes's mind wandered to the long term for the first time. Finally, he could see his future."
Wes #1 turns out as successful as anybody can be. He decided to attend law school and applied for the Rhodes Scholarship which he had graduated with from Johns Hopkins.

BIG Thought

A quote that had caught my attention and which solves the theme/both of Wes's stories is, "Fighting for your convictions is important. But finding peace is paramount. Knowing when to fight and when to seek peace is wisdom" This quote inspired me and made me think about what the world would be like without any violence. This was the main thing that Wes learned while he was in South Africa. It was that violence isn't always the answer. Spreading peace and love and being smart about your surroundings is 100 times more powerful and more affectionate than to make money on a corner every week. This is more of a message that should be sent and that is as strong that any race, individual, or marginalized person can express to the world. Life is a mental game, and its important to know which pieces to move at the right times.