As a new student at Longwood University, I had to participate in a class called Longwood Seminar. This class gave me the opportunity to express myself, meet new people, and learn the history of Longwood. We had to read a book called The Other Wes Moore. Wes Moore had a story. His story was unique and completely abnormal. Moore’s story was raw. He was a boy that got into the wrong crowd and did not necessary act all that bad, but was not heading down the right direction. Moore overcame all odds and became a role model for many youth.
Wes Moore was a normal kid. He grew up in not the best situation, but it was livable. His father died at a young age. Moore was raised by his sister and mother. Moore started to spiral down the wrong path. His mother decided to give Moore the chance to start over by attending a military institute as well as John’s Hopkins. Just as Moore’s parents, my parents sent me to college to give me a new experience of life. Not so much because we misbehave or our troubled young adults. They send us to discover who we are. To find out what we were made to do on the earth.
Being a college student we are given the chance to fully be independent for the first time. No one is here telling us how to act or who to be. Moore was heading down the wrong track and his mother sent him to a military institute to try and make him become a better person. The military institute is stricter than a university, but at the same time Moore was on his own. This makes you rely on your own instinct and on others. It also taught the less of responsibility. His mother was no longer there to clean up the mess Moore had made. If Moore did it he took the blame and learned to cope with the consequences. It is the same in college. The university and other students depend on us to be the best. If we fall we all fall. If a group member does not do his part of the weight or even if a student cheats there are consequences. Some consequences are more drastic than others, but we have to be responsible for our actions.
Wes Moore had an acquaintance with the same name. The other Wes Moore is currently doing a life sentence in jail. When reading the book I felt that the author Wes Moore always carried around a shadow. The shadow was the other Wes Moore. No matter how successful he was he always new someone would ask or think about the other Wes Moore. At times it can be rewarding and a chance to brag about yourself, but at the same time exhausting. He constantly tells the same story over and over. I have a family member who is completely headed down the wrong path. I cannot go out with someone speaking about her or mentioning another story about her. I hurt for her like Wes Moore did. I realize how fortunate of the life my family gave. At the same time I still cannot help but be saddened. Her family is affected by her decisions. Like Moore I carry her actions like a shadow. When people see me they think of her. They feel the need to ask me how unsuccessful she is or even so much what it feels like to be her cousin. There is not a week that goes by that I do not hear about how bad the actions of my cousin are.
Wes Moore made his book relatable because of how real he wrote it. He did not write this book to make him seem better and tell about how successful he is. He wrote it tell a story and for people to relate too. I related to it not in a way of being a troubled child, but as having a shadow.
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