by Zach Green

The memoir The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, by Wes Moore, is about two kids who grow up on the same Baltimore streets, with the same name, and similar conditions. The main difference between the two lies in the structure and discipline of their lives. The first Wes is the author, and the other Wes is a man he discovered many years into his life. Their lives were structured in completely different ways, and as a result, they were led down different paths meeting success and failure. Typically, the structure of a person’s life consists of them at the top, followed by the primary disciplinarian, and then many other people who are able to provide supporting services to the specified person. The author Wes Moore had strong structure and discipline all throughout his life, because he stayed in school and had multiple supporting parental figures. Wes Moore met success and he kept moving forward. The other Wes Moore did not have solid structure because he dropped out of school, didn’t have strong parental figures, and was left to take care of himself. In the end, the other Wes followed his own path which unfortunately led him to prison. Ultimately, the author Wes Moore’s strong structure and discipline paved the road for a very promising and successful future, while the other Wes Moore’s poor structure and discipline led him to violence, drugs, and life in prison.

The author Wes Moore had strong structure and discipline throughout his life. The structure of Wes’ life, until he was about three years old, consisted of his older sister Nikki, his mother, and his father. His father became Wes’ primary disciplinarian, evaluating punishments in his own laid-back style. When Wes was about three, he accidentally hit his sister Nikki. His mom was furious but his dad stepped in to handle the situation. Wes Moore recalls his father explaining, “‘Main Man, you can’t just hit people, and particularly women. You must defend them, not fight them. Do you understand?’ I nodded, then asked, ‘Is Mommy mad at me?’ ‘No, Mommy loves you, like I love you, she just wants you to do the right thing’” (11). This calm discipline allowed Wes to absorb the lesson his father shared with him without receiving physical punishment that may cause a rebellious attitude and future violence down the road. When Wes’ father passed away, his mother found it very hard to raise three kids and work, so they moved to the Bronx. His family began living with their grandparents, and subsequently, they had become a major part of Wes’ structure. His grandfather had become his new father figure, and his grandmother became one of his primary disciplinarians by enforcing a variety of new rules regarding curfew, where he can play, and when he can play.

As author Wes got older, school largely impacted the structure and discipline of his life. School provides a student with a large peer group which dramatically increases the number of people in one’s structure. Wes’ mother enrolled him in a private school after their move to the Bronx because she was scared of how the public schools have been diminishing. Wes was sent to Riverdale Country School. Wes now had to make it to school and back on his own every day, which takes a lot of the discipline away from his life. Wes explains, “My mother saw Riverdale as a haven, a place where I could escape my neighborhood and open my horizons. But for me, it was where I got lost” (48). Instead of going to school, Wes gets off at random subway stops and explores New York. Now that he is by himself, there is no one to provide constant discipline, and Wes naturally started to slack academically. As a result, he was placed on academic probation. Wes continued to do poorly at Riverdale, despite his mother’s threats to send him to military school. The dean of Riverdale called Wes’ mom and informed her he would be kicked out, and that was the last straw.

Wes was next sent to military school in hopes that he would be provided a better environment to succeed. Military school at Valley Forge provided a tremendous amount of structure and discipline. Wes quickly succeeded with the help of the structure of military school. The structure consisted of a large peer group who all support one another, and platoon leaders who enforce discipline. The structure was that everyone pushed each other to do well, which creates a large support structure, and as a result, success is reached. Wes explains that, “They made it clear that they cared if I succeeded, and eventually so did I” (115). Wes had the structural stability and the moral support to do exceptionally well in military school which earned him academic and athletic scholarships. He even rose up and became a platoon leader. Wes carried on the concepts and lessons learned from military school throughout college and life which guided him to success. Structure and discipline did not limit what he could accomplish, it made the possibilities endless.

On the contrary, the other Wes never had much positive structure or discipline in his life. The framework of the other Wes’ structure as a kid consisted of his single mother and his older brother Tony sharing the role of primary disciplinarian, his friends on the streets, and the terribly small amount of schooling he had. The only person in his life who really acted as his disciplinarian was Tony. Wes’ mom was always at work during the day, and his dad left the picture a long time ago, so Wes was on his own every day. Wes was still young at this time, only 12, and he was responsible for getting himself up and going to school. Despite his mother’s efforts, the other Wes began skipping school on a regular basis, and school no longer was a factor in the structure of his life.

Since school was out of the picture, Wes turned to the streets. He surrounded himself in a good amount of friends, but they all were involved in the drug game. Soon enough, working on the streets with his friends became his main source of structure and discipline for his life. The drug game provided the other Wes with a very strong structure, but it would surely lead him the opposite way of prosperity. The author explains:

Wes had his entire operation organized with the precision of a military unit or a division of a Fortune 500 company. The drug game had its own rules, its own structure. He was . . . the leader of his small crew . . . On the lowest rung of the ladder . . . were the corner boys. These were the kids, sometimes as young as seven but normally no older than eleven, who served as the lookouts for cops . . .

The hitters were the ones who dealt with the money . . . This was also one of the most dangerous jobs, because if the money ever came up short, the hitter was the one whose neck was on the line.

The housemen were in charge of distribution . . .

Last, you had the muscle, who were there to protect the crew and the lieutenant. They were usually carrying weapons of various kinds and were not afraid to use them. A crew’s relevancy . . . was dependent on the amount of muscle they controlled and the level of violence their muscle was ready to get into…

This was the crew. They would work together, fight together, stay together. An unbreakable bond united the crew—for many members, it was the only support system they had. It was family. (110-11)

This was the other Wes’ family, and his only major support system in his life. He lived by this structure because it was the only thing he had. His crew was the hierarchy of his life. Unlike the first Wes, this structure and discipline of the other Wes’ life lead him down a path which eventually put extreme limits on his life. He ended up with life in prison without the possibility of parole, for the murder of a police officer. His life was limited by the hands of the state, and they would stay on him for the rest of his life in prison.

Each Wes had a moment in life in which their lessons learned from their structure and discipline was truly evaluated. In military school, the author Wes was walking to get a stromboli with a friend. On their way they were harassed by a few guys in a car. The situation escalated, and Wes was hit in the mouth with a hard object that one of the guys threw. When Wes was hit, he wanted to rebel, but something inside of him told him not to. This goes back to how his father had treated situations in a calm manner. The other Wes reacted in a different way. Wes walked a girl out of his house and then a guy beat him up over the girl he was with. Wes was enraged he got beat up so he grabbed a gun and went after him. His response to violence took after his brother who would always tell Wes to “send a message” (33). Each Wes reacted in a different way depending on what kind of structure and discipline they had been exposed to.

The structure and discipline of each of the Wes Moore’s lives critically impacted their futures. Wes Moore had good structure and discipline from a variety of credible sources that came from his family, friends, and school, and, as a result, he excelled throughout his life and reached success. The other Wes Moore did not have strong structure and discipline as a minor, so he learned his lessons from the streets rather than a parent. The other Wes had a strong structure, but it caused him to get involved with drugs, and eventually ended up in prison for life. With the proper structure and discipline, anyone can pursuit success and reach incredible heights.

Works Cited

Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2011. Print.