Afternoon of Conversation: The Other Wes More: One Name, Two Fates: Wes Moore

Summary

The speaker shares a personal narrative from his book 'The Other Wes Moore,' exploring the divergent paths of two boys with similar backgrounds, one leading to a Rhodes Scholarship and the other to life imprisonment. He discusses the importance of education, environment, and expectations in shaping life outcomes, emphasizing the power of role models and the potential for redemption. The talk highlights the societal impact of expectations and the need for support systems to provide opportunities for at-risk youth.

Takeaways

• 📚 The importance of a book's title: The author initially disliked the title 'The Other Wes Moore' but later understood its significance in highlighting the existence of 'others' in society.
• 🤔 The societal 'other': The title emphasizes the many overlooked individuals in society whose life circumstances and challenges are often ignored.
• 👦 Personal journey and societal impact: The author's book discusses his own life and the stark differences from another person named Wes Moore, who took a different path in life.
• 🏠 The role of family and environment: The author's upbringing, influenced by his mother's strong values against violence, played a crucial role in shaping his character.
• 👨‍🦳 The impact of a father's presence: The author's brief but profound memories of his father instilled in him a sense of respect and protection towards women.
• 🔪 Tragic loss and its repercussions: The author's experience of losing his father at a young age led to confusion, anger, and a troubled adolescence.
• 🔍 A tale of two Wes Moores: The story contrasts the author's life with that of another Wes Moore, who ended up in prison, to explore the factors that led to their divergent paths.
• 💌 The power of correspondence: The author's correspondence with the incarcerated Wes Moore provided deep insights into the latter's life and the decisions that led to his fate.
• 🏡 The significance of a supportive environment: The author emphasizes that a strong, supportive community and educational institutions are vital for a child's development.
• 🌟 The role of expectations: High expectations from others can significantly influence a young person's self-perception and future outcomes.
• 🆓 The value of freedom and second chances: The author acknowledges his own mistakes and the freedom he had to seek redemption, advocating for the same opportunities for others.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the book 'The Other Wes Moore'?

The main theme of the book is the exploration of two individuals, both named Wes Moore, who come from similar backgrounds but end up on vastly different life paths, highlighting the impact of societal factors and personal choices.

Why did the author initially dislike the title 'The Other Wes Moore'?

The author initially disliked the title because he felt it negated the societal conversation the book aimed to convey, seemed self-referential, and assumed that readers would care about who 'the other Wes Moore' was.

What was the turning point for the author that led to the change in his life direction?

The turning point was the intervention and support from various people who refused to give up on him, which helped him to change his path and eventually receive a scholarship to attend college.

How did the author come to know about the other Wes Moore involved in the jewelry store robbery?

The author came to know about the other Wes Moore through a series of articles published by The Baltimore Sun, which detailed the crime and the subsequent manhunt for the perpetrators.

What was the significance of the letter the author received from the incarcerated Wes Moore?

The letter was significant as it marked the beginning of a correspondence and relationship that would lead to deeper understanding and exploration of their divergent life paths.

What role did education play in shaping the lives of both Wes Moores?

Education played a pivotal role. The author benefited from educational opportunities that changed his life trajectory, while the incarcerated Wes Moore's mother had her educational grants cut, potentially altering her life course.

Why did the author believe that expectations are crucial in determining a person's life path?

The author believes that expectations are crucial because they shape a person's view of their potential and future, often leading to self-fulfilling prophecies based on what others see in them.

What is the author's view on the importance of a supportive community for a child's upbringing?

The author views a supportive community as essential, as it provides a strong foundation for a child's home and education, influencing the child's development and opportunities.

How did the author's personal experiences with mistakes and redemption reflect in his book?

The author's personal experiences are woven into the narrative to illustrate the freedom to make mistakes and seek redemption, emphasizing the importance of second chances and support systems.

What message does the author hope to convey to future generations through his and Wes's story?

The author hopes to convey that all children should have the freedom to explore their potential and that society must create opportunities for them to do so, avoiding the pitfalls that led to Wes's tragic outcome.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Book Title Controversy and Societal Reflection

The speaker begins by expressing gratitude for the invitation to the Aspen Ideas Festival, humorously acknowledging the intimidating schedule. They share an anecdote about the book publishing process, highlighting the disconnect between the author's intent and the publisher's marketing strategy. The author initially dislikes the proposed title 'The Other Wes Moore', arguing it contradicts the book's broader societal focus and finds it personally absurd. However, the publisher's insight reveals the significance of the word 'other' in reflecting the overlooked individuals in society, prompting the author to consider the fine line between different life outcomes.

05:01

👦 Childhood Memories and the Impact of Absentee Father

The narrative shifts to the author's childhood, influenced by his mother's strict teachings against violence towards women, stemming from her own history of abuse. A pivotal moment occurs when the author, as a child, hits his sister, leading to a profound lesson from his father about respect and family protection. This interaction leaves a lasting impression, with the author idolizing his father. Tragically, the story takes a turn with the father's death, which the young author struggles to comprehend, leading to emotional turmoil and behavioral issues in his later years.

10:03

🔍 Parallel Lives: A Journey of Two Wes Moores

The speaker delves into a story that parallels his own life with that of another individual named Wes Moore, who took a drastically different path. The two Wes Moores, despite similar backgrounds and challenges, ended up in vastly different circumstances—one receiving a scholarship and the other serving a life sentence for a crime. The author's curiosity leads him to correspond with the incarcerated Wes Moore, initiating a series of letters and visits that provide deep insights into the factors that shaped their divergent lives.

15:05

🏛️ The Power of Education and Changing Expectations

The author emphasizes the crucial role of education, using the story of Wes's mother, who was denied the opportunity to continue her education due to financial constraints, as a case study. He argues that education is not just about acquiring knowledge but also about expanding one's network and social connections. Furthermore, the author discusses the importance of environment and the expectations placed on individuals, suggesting that our destinies are molded by the expectations of others, which in turn shape our own self-expectations.

20:05

🌟 Freedom and the Pursuit of Redemption

In the concluding part of the script, the author reflects on his own life's challenges and mistakes, acknowledging the freedom he had to seek redemption. He underscores the importance of mentors and role models who encouraged him to envision a broader world beyond his immediate surroundings. The author expresses a heartfelt wish for future generations to experience the same freedom and emphasizes the collective responsibility to create opportunities for them.

Keywords

💡Aspen Ideas Festival

The Aspen Ideas Festival is a prestigious event that gathers leaders from various fields to discuss and explore new ideas. In the script, the speaker expresses gratitude for being invited to this festival, indicating its significance and the honor of sharing the stage with notable figures such as a Supreme Court Justice.

💡The Other Wes Moore

This is the title of the book written by the speaker, which is central to the video's narrative. It refers to the concept of two individuals with similar backgrounds, Wes Moore, the author, and another Wes Moore, who took different life paths. The book title is a metaphor for the 'other' possibilities in life and the choices that lead to them.

💡Societal Conversation

The term 'societal conversation' is used to describe the broader dialogue about the conditions and systems that influence individual lives. In the script, the author emphasizes that his book is not just about personal stories but also about sparking a discussion on societal issues that affect people from different backgrounds.

💡Publishing

The speaker shares insights into the publishing industry, highlighting the difference between the content of the book, which is the author's own, and the cover and title, which are influenced by the publisher's marketing strategies. This term is key to understanding the behind-the-scenes aspects of book creation.

💡West Moes

The term 'West Moes' is used to represent the idea that there are many individuals like the author and the other Wes Moore in every community, each with their own story. It underscores the theme of the video, which is about understanding the different paths that can be taken by people from similar backgrounds.

💡Education

Education is presented as a pivotal factor in shaping one's life. The speaker discusses how access to education can change one's social networks and opportunities. It is also tied to the story of Wes's mother, whose education was cut short, potentially altering her life trajectory.

💡Environment

The environment is discussed as a significant influence on a child's development. The speaker argues that it's not about moving children from one environment to another but ensuring a strong, supportive home and community. The script uses the environment to highlight the importance of context in a child's life and the role it plays in their future.

💡Expectations

Expectations are portrayed as a driving force in a person's life. The speaker shares that people tend to live up to the expectations set for them, which can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the video, the concept is used to discuss how societal and personal expectations can shape one's destiny.

💡Redemption

Redemption is mentioned as a possibility for those who have made mistakes, as the speaker reflects on his own life and the errors he has made. It is a theme that suggests that despite one's past, there is always a chance for change and improvement.

💡Role Models and Mentors

The importance of having positive role models and mentors is emphasized in the script. These figures are credited with helping the speaker see beyond his immediate surroundings and recognize his potential. They represent the guidance and support that can influence a person's choices and direction in life.

💡Freedom

Freedom, in the context of the video, is not just about physical liberty but also about the freedom to make choices and pursue one's potential. The speaker contrasts his own journey with that of the other Wes Moore, highlighting how different life outcomes can be a result of the opportunities and choices available to individuals.

Highlights

The importance of the book title 'The Other Wes Moore' and its significance in representing societal 'others'.

The author's initial resistance to the book title due to its perceived limitations and personal name inclusion.

The concept that societal 'others' exist in every community, often overlooked or misunderstood.

The author's personal journey from a troubled youth to receiving a prestigious scholarship, as detailed in a Baltimore Sun article.

The profound impact of the author's father's death at a young age and its subsequent emotional turmoil.

The parallel narrative of another individual named Wes Moore, who took a drastically different path leading to a life sentence.

The exploration of the factors that led to two Wes Moores having such divergent outcomes despite similar backgrounds.

The transformative power of education and its role in altering life trajectories, as illustrated by the author's and Wes's mothers' experiences.

The significance of environment and community support in fostering a child's development and potential.

The role of parental involvement and the importance of early childhood interactions in shaping a child's vocabulary and readiness for school.

The influence of expectations on an individual's life path and how they are often a reflection of the expectations others have for them.

The author's personal struggles and mistakes, and the freedom to seek redemption for them.

The critical role of mentors and role models in expanding one's perspective and recognizing personal potential.

The chilling truth that the author's life could have mirrored Wes's tragic outcome, and vice versa.

The collective responsibility to create opportunities and freedom for future generations, as emphasized by both Wes Moores.

The author's closing thoughts on the importance of understanding and addressing the root causes of societal disparities.

Transcripts

ever greater West

Moore sorry thank you and good afternoon

thank you very much Elliot to the whole

uh Aspen ideas festival and Walter for

the for the invitation and um and

whoever was in charge of scheduling and

wanted to Humble Me by ask me to go

after a Supreme Court Justice I

appreciate that as as well um I hope you

all don't decide to like completely like

book out and leave now that uh now that

he complete but uh but it it's a it's a

real honor to um to be here and it's

interesting because that actually

reminds me of of a of a very quick story

when um when I first was putting

together this this the uh the book that

I wrote is called the other westm and

when I first put together this book and

a dirty little secret about publishing

and I'm sure like 90% of people in here

are published themselves so they know

that basically what's inside of a book

is all author that's the author's words

those are the author's thoughts what's

on the outside the cover the title

that's a lot publisher because that's

the Publisher's chance to Market and so

when the publisher starts having

conversations with their authors about

what do what do they want the cover to

look like and the title to look like in

many cases it's it's almost ceremonial

they're doing it because they're being

nice right and so we were having I was

having a conversation with my publisher

our ceremonial convers ation about what

they thought the title of this book

should be and I had like five or six

ideas that I thought were really good

that I wanted for this book and they

were like so what do you think and I

came up I was like what about out of

many or what about Baltimore Sons or

what about all the difference and I had

all these different names and they

looked at me and they're like those are

interesting and they said well we have

an idea for you what do you think about

the other West

more and as soon as they said it I

thought to myself and I looked at them

and I said that is the dumbest book

title that I've ever heard in my

life and I said it for a bunch of

reasons I and they said what do you

think what what's wrong with it and I

said well there's a bunch but let me

give you three first thing I've been

very clear that I wanted the intent of

this book that people understand that

it's not just about these two boys but

it's really about a societal

conversation and so by putting the name

in the title aren't you completely

negating that entire argument the second

thing I said I don't know what author

puts their name inside of their own book

title it sounds ridiculous and the third

thing I said no one knows who one West

Moore is so I don't know why anyone

would care who the other West Moore

is and and and they and they looked at

me and they said that's that's

interesting we get that point but um the

problem is is I think you're missing the

point the problem is is that you're

right this isn't about you and and it's

not about

him the name isn't important you can

throw any name inside of that

title and the fact remains there are

West Moes of both sides that exist in

each and every one of our

communities the most important thing

about the title is the

other the other the fact that our

society is full of others many people

who haven't made it to Aspen during this

week many people who will walk by

and not think much about their life

their circumstances and their challenges

or many people we look at their final

life

conclusion and never once think about

how they got there positive or

negative and the thing that I tried to

uncover and the thing I really learned

from myself with that was the more we

actually try to uncover that the more we

realize how little separates us from

Another Life

altogether and the story in the

background of it really

begins with a an article from The

Baltimore Sun which is my hometown paper

and B and the Baltimore Sun wrote a

piece this was back in 2000 I just

received a road scholarship and the

Baltimore son wrote a piece about my

life and my childhood and how I was a

local kid who would just received this

award but in the article they went a

little bit deeper not just talking about

the award but talking also about my

background and in the article they

talked a little bit about how some of

the some of the challenges that I had

growing up and how a lot of them stem

from what happened with my

father I only have two memories of my

father the first memory of my father was

once when I was about 3 years old my one

one thing about my mother my mother was

always very insistent on the fact that

that men never put their hands on women

and she made sure that her son never put

his hand on a woman as well so I swear

as early as when I was in like a

bassinet this was lessons that she was

telling me and my older sister who was

about 5 years older than me I have a

younger sister and older sister my older

sister uh we would have these little

sibling games that sometimes were joking

around sometimes were not but sometimes

ended in physical confrontations it's

like siblings do

and I didn't realize that my mother's

insistence on why men never put their

hands on women became came from her

personal past was the fact that she was

mentally and physically and sexually

abused so she always said I will never

tolerate it if I see it and I

particularly will never tolerate it if I

see it in my own son

and so one

day we were playing I was playing around

my sister she was blowing in my face and

I was laughing and again she's about 9

years old this time I'm I'm three years

old blown in my face and then eventually

I just get up and I start running after

her and once I finally catch her I turn

around and I pull my fist back and I

swing and I hit her and I hit her in the

arm but as soon as I made contact I

turned around and I saw my

mom and I knew it was about to get real

bad and so my mother then starts yelling

after me telling me to go to my room I

immediately run up to my room and again

when she's like you know you don't put

your hands on women I would always try

to explain to her that this is not a

woman this is Nikki this is my sister

this is totally different but my mother

didn't see the difference so as I'm up

in my room and we had a small we had a

small house down in Maryland and we had

like a crib and a bed where myself and

my sister said and I started hearing

footsteps coming up the

stairs and then I heard a knock on the

door and the door opened up and my

father walked into the

room and my father had a very calming a

very soothing presence to him he was

tall but never Rose his voice and he

came into my room and he sat down on the

bed and he picked me up and he put me on

his lap and he started explaining to me

why my mother was so mad explaining to

me that you know I needed to protect my

family my and and I should never ever

attack women and explain to me why she

was so upset and then at the end of it

he said to me he explained to me that I

needed to go downstairs and I needed to

apologize to my mother and apologize to

my sister and he was going to go with

me he fixed me up we're walking down the

stairs and the whole time as we're

walking down the stairs together my

whole hand

wrapped around his

finger literally and

figuratively and as we're walking down

the stairs he's looking down at me and

I'm looking up at him and I remember

just trying to copy the way that he

walked the way that his chest stuck out

the way that his head held high and I

did the same

thing my father was my

hero he was everything I wanted to

be and the only other memory that I have

of him was a little less in a year later

was when I watched him

die and at three and a half years old

when you hear that your father passed

away you have no idea what that

means I kept on hearing that he moved on

to a better place and the only thing

that I was concerned about was when was

he coming back here and it wasn't until

I got older that I realized that he

wasn't and a lot of that frustration a

lot of that confusion eventually turned

to anger it turned to apathy it turned

to the point that eventually I was

picking and choosing which days I wanted

to go to

school it came to the point that by the

time I was eight and N years old I was

already on academic and disciplinary

probation by the time I was 11 it got

worse by the time I was 11 was the first

time that I felt

handcuffs clasped around my wrists at 11

years

old but then through a lot of help and a

lot of intervention and a lot of people

who refused to give up on me I was able

to help change direction change aouth

and the Baltimore son wrote a little bit

about this story and about how I just

received this

award now at the same time the Baltimore

son was also writing a whole series of

articles on four guys who one day walked

into a jewelry

store two guys when they walked into the

jewelry store as soon as they walked in

at 11:30 in the morning they reached in

their coats and they pulled out

guns and as they reached and they pulled

out guns they started pointing the guns

at everybody who was on inside the store

either shopping or working and telling

everybody to hit the ground and keep

their hands on top of their

heads and about 10 seconds later two

other guys walked into the store and

they reach in their coats and they

pulled out

mallets and one guy with a gun and one

guy with a mallet went to the left and

one guy with a gun and one guy with a

mallet went to the

right the ones with the guns were

keeping everybody on the ground while

the ones with the mallets were walking

around and just smashing out jewelry

cases and taking out watches and rings

and

necklaces and they met in the back of

the they met in the back of the store

with a little over $400,000 worth of

jewelry and one of the guys yelled let's

go and then all four of them ran out of

the center of the store and ran out to

the adjacent parking

lot one of the people that was inside

the store that day was an off-duty

police officer

who was mood lining as a security

guard he was a 13-year veteran of the

Baltimore Police

Force he was a three-time recipient of

police officer of the

year he was a father of five who just

had

triplets and the reason he was working

that day was because it was his day off

from the police force and he had to work

a second job to make extra money for his

family and he got up off the ground and

he drew his weapon and he ran outside to

the adjacent parking lot to see if he

could stop the guys from getting away

and as he ran outside he started kneeing

next to cars and kneeling next to

vehicles to see if he could figure out

which vehicle that they were in and he

didn't realize that one of the vehicles

that he was kneeling next to was one of

the vehicles that the guys were

in and then a window rolled

down and then three

shots were taken a Point Blank Range two

hit him in the chest one hit him in the

head and he was killed

instantly and there was a 12-day

national man

hunt for with those four guys and

finally after 12 days all four guys were

caught and one of the PE one of the

people that the police were looking for

one of the people that was eventually

caught tried convicted and sentenced for

the crime was a guy whose name was also

Westmore and the more I learned about

this

tragedy this police officer who went to

work one day and didn't come

home the more I read articles about this

story and the more they detailed the

people who were involved the more I

realized how much more that Wes and I

had in common than just our

names I found out that we were living in

the same neighborhood literally at that

time blocks away from each other that we

both grew up in single parent households

we both had academic and disciplinary

probation growing up we were around the

same

age and so that's when I started

thinking myself so how does this happen

how do you get two kids from similar

backgrounds and similar circumstances

who end up going into two completely

different places that as I'm getting

ready to head off 3,000 Mi away from

home on a SC

scholarship he's getting ready to head

it to 25 mil away from home to a maximum

security facility for the rest of his

life him his older brother and the two

other guys who were convicted that

day and I knew there were questions I

wanted to ask and I knew that Wes was

the only one that could answer them so

one day I just decided to write

them I had no idea if he'd write back

and quite honestly I knew I couldn't

control what Wes

did but I wrote him I wrote him a note

and then a month later I received a

letter back from Jessup Correctional

Institution from West

Moore and it's one of these things that

if that letter that I receiv received

from Wes was you know written in in in

crayon like he wrote it with his whole

hand and it didn't make any sense if

that was a letter I would have received

I would have re I would have looked at

that letter and said okay I get

it I have a better understanding of what

happened the promise is that it

wasn't the promise to this day it was

one of the most interesting and

articulate letters that I've ever

received where the first thing he did

was he first thanked me for writing him

cuz he says when you're in prison you

think that the whole world doesn't think

you exist

anymore and then he started answering

all the

questions that I post

on and eventually that one letter turned

into dozens of letters those dozens of

letters turned into dozens of visits and

now I've known Wes for over for for

around eight

years and when I first started going

through this process me I had known West

for years before the idea of a book came

about

but after speaking with Wes about

it he said something I thought was

interesting he said listen I've wasted

every opportunity every opportunity I've

ever had in

life and if you can do something to help

people understand the consequences for

their decisions and also do something to

help people understand the neighborhoods

that these decisions are being made in

then you should do

it and that then became the fire and the

motivation behind this whole project the

idea of this was never to cast

revisionist history the idea of this was

never to open appeal processes or

anything like that Wes's fate is

sealed but the question I wanted to ask

was why was his fate sealed so long

before February 7 of

2000 and there's what I wanted to try to

figure out is what is that thing that if

we can give kids that kids will be just

fine if we can get them that one thing

that I know they'll be okay and the

takeaway that I took from this entire

experience of of doing hundreds of hours

of interviews and speaking with everyone

who would talk to me his friends my

friends his family my family Etc was I

realize there is no one

thing raising kids is extraordinarily

complicated and when you happen to have

to raise kids in some of the most

dangerous and precarious neighborhoods

in our in our country it becomes that

much more

complicated but I do know a couple

things that do

matter one thing that matters is

education

matters and not simply because I mean

even if you take take it away from the

boys take it back a generation to the

mothers Wes's mother was the first one

in her family to go to

college she graduated with honors from

Baltimore City Community College and

gets accepted to John's Hopkins

University first one in her

family and one day she receives a letter

indicating that her grants were

cut and she could no longer afford to go

to

school now I can't help but think how

different her life could have turned out

and would have turned out had she had

the chance to finish school not just

because of what you learn and not just

because of the piece of paper that you

can hang up and frame on your

wall but because with higher education

your networks change your friendships

change your connections

change I know if I took a quick straw

poll I'd be the first one to raise my

hand to say how many people would the

job you either have or job you've had in

recent history that you did not get that

job through the classifi ads or

monster.com because that's not the way

it works for 70% of people in this

country for 70% of people in this

country you get a phone call or an email

from someone who says we have a mutual

friend there I'm looking for someone

that can do X Y and Z and they mentioned

you or you call somebody who says you

know I'm interested in getting into your

field can you teach me a little bit

about it and next thing you know that's

how the ball starts

rolling education matters not just

because of what you learn but who you're

learning it

from I also know that environment

matters and it's not that I think that

the answer is is picking kids up from

one environment and throwing them to

another environment because that's not

the

answer in fact if supports aren't in

place that actually compounds the

problem the best way you can help a

child is by making sure they're coming

up in a strong supportive home the best

way you help that home is by making sure

that home exists in a strong supportive

Community the best way you do that is

making sure of anchor educational

institutions in that

Community but that environment matters

because when you think even as we're

having all these larger conversations

about education reform which are

incredibly important conversations that

we're having now the three things that

keep children from reading at grade

level by third

grade the three things are summer

learning loss chronic absence which is

defined as kids who are missing 30% or

more of the school year and kids who are

entering School

unprepared all three of those things

have nothing to do with structural

school reform

environment matters because parents have

to understand their job they're they are

their child's first and best

teacher but helping parents understand

because one thing I believe about

parents is not that a lot of parents

don't

care it's that a lot of them don't

know they don't know why it's important

to read to your child as early as when

they're in utero they don't know why

it's important to describe things to

your child when you're talking about the

sky that it's not just the sky but it's

the blue sky to making sure that they're

entering school with a strong

vocabulary that kind of stuff

matters and the third thing that I know

that matters is expectations

matter I remember when I was speaking

with Wes about

Baltimore and I asked I said so do you

think that we're products of our

environment and Wes looked back me and

he said actually I think we're products

of our

expectations and I thought to myself

he's absolutely right we're not products

of our environments we're products of

our

expectations but the thing about

expectations is that expectations aren't

born from nowhere the expectations that

we have for ourselves the expectations

that all young people have for

themselves they're born from the

expectations other people place on

them they're born from what other people

see in their

future and that's how begins to

formulate we're a country full of

self-fulfilling

prophecies and I remember someone once

said to me it's a real shame that you

lived up to your expectations and West

didn't and I said actually the real

shame is that we both lived up to our

expectations

we both ended up exactly where we

thought we

would these things matter when we're

talking about how do we develop a

stronger more secure

Society because the greatest battles

that we're going to fight as a country

will never be outside I'm saying this as

a

veteran but they're

within there how much intellectual

Capital are we driving from areas where

the expectations are not just externally

but internally so low

what I'd like to do very briefly is just

close with a a small part of the book

one thing I heard that authors do is

read parts of their books I guess I

should do it um but it's a very small

part it says things have not been

perfect for me in the years since the

book story ended like many boys who grew

up without a father in the home I

searched for ways to fill that hole

sometimes in places I shouldn't have

looked I made some tremendous mistakes

along the way I've done things I deeply

regret said things I wish I could take

back and disappointed people in ways

that still embarrass me I have fought

battles I should not have engaged in and

walked away from causes that needed and

deserved a champion but I've had the

freedom to make those mistakes and the

freedom to seek Redemption for them when

we're young it sometimes seems as if the

world doesn't exist outside our city our

block our house our room we make

decisions based on what we see in that

limited world and follow the only models

available the most important thing that

happened to me was not being physically

transported the moves from Baltimore to

the Bronx to Valley Forge didn't change

my way of thinking what changed was that

I found myself surrounded by people

starting with my mom grandparents uncles

and aunts and leading to a string of

wonderful role models and mentors who

kept pushing me to see more than what

was directly in front of me to see the

boundless possibilities of The Wider

world and the unexplored possibilities

Within

Myself people who taught me that no

accident of birth not being black or

relatively poor being from Baltimore or

the Bronx or fatherless would ever

Define me or limit me in other words

they help me to discover what it means

to be

free as I wrote at the outset of this

book The chilling truth is that Wes's

story could have been mine the tragedy

is that my story could have been

his my only wish and I know Wes feels

the same is that the boys and girls who

come after us will know the same Freedom

it's up to us all of us to make a way

for

them fashion which sounds a little bit

like