Wes Moore

Gabriel Diaz

(I will refere to the author Wes Moore as Wes Moore 1, the other gentleman is Wes Moore 2)

In the book, both of the Wes Moore's had a similar upbringing but ended up in totally different situations due to their decision making and being in different environments. I can completely relate to their stories and I had a bunch of friends that ended up in Wes Moore 2's situation. In my previous article I discussed my decision to distance myself from people who didn't want to go down the same path as me, and I believe this greatly altered my life path. If I would have kept up my behavior, I don't know where I would be right now and Im glad I made the decision to stay out of trouble and focus on my goals. Everyone that comes from the inner city (specifically poor areas) has had to make hard decisions at some point in their life. Whether its to continue onto college after high school, drop out of high school to provide for their family, or join a gang. These were the realities I was surrounded by and thankfully I didn't give into the pressures.

(Nas-Nasir Vinyl cover depicting children's life in the ghetto)

    Tony and Wes' relationship is a very interesting one, and once again I can completely relate to it. I also have 2 older brothers who grew up similar to Tony and I would hear the same lectures from my older brothers about staying out of trouble. Although Tony wants Wes to be the complete opposite of him, he doesn't realize the influence that an older brother has on his younger sibling. Tony tells Wes time and time again to stay out of trouble and stay out of the streets, but Wes see's how Tony carries himself and wants to be the same way. My younger cousin (who looked up to me since we were little) used to see me getting in trouble and heard of the stories my mom would tell his mom, and he eventually took heed to how I was acting and followed in my footsteps. His grades started slipping and he thought it was "cool" to get in trouble and skip school because he saw me and my friends doing it. I had the same sit-down that my brothers had with me, and It didn't work at first. Once he started seeing me calm down and do better, he followed suit. Children/teenagers are very impressionable, and they want to imitate the people they look up to. It is important to be a good role model to the youth for this same purpose.

    Activities that I used to do when I was coping with difficult situations was playing sports. I found validation in being apart of a team, and I was also not too bad. After a few years I realized that sports wasn't what I really wanted to do, and I switched to Art/fashion. Once I started diving deep into the art world, I realized that I wanted to design things for the rest of my life. Now, every time I need to take my mind off of something I sit at my sewing machine, or plug in my computer and use photoshop for hours. Without art I doubt that I would be as motivated and focused as I am today, and im happy I discovered it when I did.