The Other Wes Moore

So do you think that we are products of our environment?
Actually I think we are products of our expectations.

Haunted by their sharing a name and similar if not the same beginnings, Wes Moore, the author, youth advocate and decorated war veteran, meets Wes Moore, the convicted felon serving life in prison.

Both were of the same age, both grew up in the same part of town, both were raised by single mums and both struggled with rebellion.

Only, one found his purpose in military school and the other ended up being convicted of murder in a botched robbery attempt.

The book is marketed as One Name, Two Fates. Wes, the author says that the chilling truth is that his life could've been mine. And the tragedy is my life could have been his.

What is the one thing that made the difference? asks a BBC correspondent in an interview.

There was no one thing, he replies, there was a collection of things;
1. I understood the importance of education, family, role models and mentors, people who stepped up in my life,
2. Some small decisions, some small interventions. There really is little that separates us from another life altogether

If people's expectations of you are so low as to what you're going to accomplish. You're not going to accomplish much. Also there's a difference with the way you deal with not having a father. Mine lived in the same block and didn't want to know me.

Whereas Wes Moore, the author's father died when Wes was only three of a rare disease.

The book allows us to ask ourselves an important question; What decisions and interventions separate us from another life? How are the decisions we make right now shaping the life we live? Stop and witness with this book how two lives could have diverged so far.

I wrote the book to understand our destinies and to explore larger more urgent questions about opportunity and fate, individual choice and priorities as a society.

Visit Wes Moore's site to find out about how we can mentor young men to make the right decisions. And then act on it closer to home, with the brothers, cousins, sisters and friends we have.