The Other Wes Moore

 

The Other Wes Moore:

By: Destiny Portillo 

   

    I personally am in agreement with the idea Wes Moore presented of individuals being "a product of their expectations".  This being due to the fact that as human beings we will always be able to live life with options along our path.  Of course this does not necessarily mean that the encounters individuals have within their own “environments” are always going to be positive.  There are going to be times in life where we as human beings must make decisions that will alter the path in life we are paving for ourselves.  When encountering these moments we are choosing whether to follow the “nature” within our own environment that surrounds us or to go ahead and exceed the expectations of what one is experiencing.  We in fact do not need to shed the blame solely on our environment surroundings whether they be poor friendships / relationships, jobs, academics, experiences etc.  As human beings we have the ability to strive for more and use the sightings around us to motivate one to surpass their own expectations.  If we choose to do nothing then we simply will fall below the expectations within our lives; the effort remains in our hands.  

    Having listened to the phrase, “are we products of our environment or products of our expectations”, it took me quite a second to comprehend and dissect the meaning.  I always assumed “we are what we surround ourselves with”, until Moore provided a more in depth look into the idea of expectations we set.  If we assume we will end up as those in our environment that will not always be in favor of some individuals.  If you come from a good environment great then you;d turn out well,  but for those from deemed bad environments?  Should they simply have to end up being bad just because they are products within a strained environment?  Absolutely not, Wes Moore allows the audience to understand the world could simply be in the palm of our hands.  We must be willing to sit here and outgo the prediction that we must follow the flock such as others may do.  

When reflecting back on my life growing up in a crowded and problematic environment; I at one point felt as if I could never escape the fate of being a failure and or an outcast like some in my community.  I was surrounded by individuals who were not in my best interest as friends should be.  I was also acting out as I saw it was a trend within my “clique” at the time.  Having experienced plenty of pain hanging around the wrong people and upsetting my parents who expected more of me, I knew a change was essential.  Which allows my thinking of how I handled leaving such a stressful period behind me to be in correlation with the expectations I have set for myself.  I knew I wanted to be better, to focus on getting straight A’s, getting a job and making my own money, and making not only my parents proud, but myself as well.  For me to have achieved the following, I had to create expectations to hold myself up too.  I wanted to be a humble and confident human being and focus on financially supporting myself to release financial stress from my parents.  Setting these goals I focused on following this narrow path of achieving my expectations and surely I surpassed them.  I have been receiving straight A’s in college, I am now a manager at my amazing job, which then led to me being able to purchase my own car!  Thus, with that being said Moore does have a proper sense on how we as individuals, parents, friends, etc. should be setting ourselves up for better!  

Source:

The Aspen Institute. (2011, July 2). Afternoon of conversation: The other wes more: One name, two fates: Wes Moore. YouTube. Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzhBXeRyWJ4&t=3s