The Boom in Bloom

The interplay between luck and choice is a multifaceted concept. Luck is seen as a combination of chance and good fortune. It’s when something good happens without us planning or expecting it. Luck can also be bad. Bad luck is a series of unfortunate events that occur by chance. This is when things don’t go as planned or when we experience negative circumstances that we don't have the power to control. It’s the cosmic roll of the dice that can alter circumstances without warning. Choice is the embodiment of agency and intentionality. It’s the deliberate selection of pathways in the complicated maze of existence. In “The Other Wes Moore,” luck and choice are interwoven in the lives of the two Wes Moores, and their stories highlight how these elements can shape one’s destiny. The first Wes Moore, the author, experiences a series of fortunate events and decisions that set him on a path to success. Despite early academic and behavioral struggles, his mother’s choice to send him to mili

"The Other Wes Moore '' is a book authored by Wes Moore that navigates the lives of two men with the same name who grew up in similar circumstances but ended up on completely different paths. One Wes Moore became a Rhode Scholar, decorated veteran, and successful businessman, meanwhile the other Wes Moore ended up serving a life sentence for murder. The book goes in depth into their lives looking at the influences of culture, family, education, environment, and choices leading to their different outcomes. The narrative displays multiple themes as well, one including luck vs choice, luck being the outcome they have given their circumstances. This would include external factors like family history, social status, and the opportunities granted. For example in the book, one Wes Moore had a supportive family, quality education, and mentors that contributed to his success. The other Wes Moore faced poverty, no father figure, and was exposed to drugs and violence. Choice on the o

We often hear in life that “sometimes in life, you just have to get lucky.” This could apply to numerous things, like a great job, winning the lottery, finding the love of your life, etc. No one ever achieves a goal of theirs without a little luck. Why is that? Because we are not perfect, and never will be perfect. Just like both Wes Moore’s were not perfect. One of the biggest, if not THE biggest, theme in The Other Wes Moore is Luck vs Choice. One Wes was dealt with poor luck, and unfortunately made some poor decisions. The other Wes got lucky with a lot of things in life, and was able to make good decisions. 2 names with 2 totally different fates. For this final project, Wes Moore will be the author, and The Other Wes Moore will be the ladder of the two.  In this matchup of Luck V Choice between Wes and The Other Wes, we will talk about luck first and how it impacted their lives. Both men grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Wes (the author) was surrounded by a great environment, which

Luck is a force that can bring about something good or bad and it can be beyond someone’s control. Everyone has heard the saying, “Oh that person is super lucky, I have such bad luck when it comes to things like this”. Can someone put themselves in a position to have better luck or cause themselves to have bad luck? For example, someone who is constantly putting themselves in a bad situation then gets in trouble and says that they had some bad luck, or a person that works day in and day out to better themselves and then something good happens. People say, “Oh they’re so lucky”. Is it luck or the choices we make? A choice is making a decision that is between different options. People can make choices based on different factors, such as goals, values, personal preferences, etc. Choices have the ability to make or break a decision, alter someone's life, or truly just be simple. Universally, there are good choices and bad choices, and sometimes people still make the decisions that they

When it comes to mentors, I would say that three in my life stick out to me, and they might not even know that they are mentors to me. A mentor can be a lot of different things, but to me, it is someone who motivates you to be a better version of yourself, helps lead you down the right path, and holds you accountable. One mentor that I have in my life is my friend, Matt. I have been friends with his younger brother, Mike, my entire life as we grew up together. I was always friendly with Matt, but we were never close until a couple of years ago. We got close when I was going through a little bit of a rough patch and he started sending me different workout programs to try out and encouraged me to get out of my funk. Whenever I wanted to complain, he’d shut me down and tell me to focus on what really mattered and to keep pushing, and it worked. Fast forward and we still hold each other accountable, we worked two jobs together, and we both pushed each other to be better every day. To me, t

  In the other Wes Moore’s life, hip-hop played a special role. The other Wes Moore had a dream of becoming a rapper because he felt like music gave him a sense of purpose and direction. He did not want to be like his brother and become a drug dealer. His brother Tony was a drug dealer, and he always encouraged the other Wes Moore to go down a different path, but he based a lot of what he did off of his brother because he saw him succeeding. While hip-hop played a crucial role in the other Wes’s life, it also resonated with the author Wes. Hip-hop sort of served as a bridge between the two with how they resonated with the emotions of the music even though they took very different paths.  Music historically has had a way of bringing people together. Look at the present day, there are music festivals all over the world like Rolling Loud, Boiler Room, Coachella, etc. Everyone from all over the world comes to gather at these events and all bond over the same thing. Like Wes Moore and the o