Wes Moore Role Model

Wes Moore, a kid growing up in the worst neighborhood in the us. He has no one to look up to and he follows the best role model he can find. His brother tony. Tony, being a pretty well non drug dealer kinda leads west into that lifestyle. Fast forward 8 years and Wes has his own big operation going like machine. He's walking out of a store and a guy walk up to him asking if ”he knows where he can get some rocks”(112). Wes sees all the hints that he's a cop. He's clean and everyone knows where to get drugs. Wes says no and walks away but he thinks of the money he could have made from the guy. Wes turns around and gives the guy the drugs and starts walking fast the other way. As soon as Wes got 5 feet from the guy, Was heard freeze. He kept walking acting like they weren't talking to him. All of a sudden Wes is tackled and cuffed. As he is being arrested he continues to state the he was innocent.

Wes had many values he valued his mom, his kids, and his wife.

In The book he states “ his love for her and their kids kept him from seeing the truth that know stared him in the face.” (137) Wes also valued the income he made by selling drugs. This is what I think his downfall was. He never set any personal goals to get out of the tough spot he was in. Even he said it himself he was sick of drugs, “Wes was tired. Tired of being locked up, tired of watching drugs destroy entire families, entire communities, an entire city.”

(138)

There's only negative effects of selling drugs. If your the one selling drugs you're going to get caught and you're going to go to jail. You're not going to see your wife. Who knows what she's going to do when your in jail. If you have kids, you won't see them. By the time you get out they'll be all grown up and won't want anything to with you. On top of that you're not being a very good role model because your kids will now think thats how the world works. When you get out how are you going to get a job with a felony on your record. You won't have a good enough job to provide for your family who doesn't care about you. So you're going to go back to selling drugs and the process restarts. This what happens to Wes in the book. It happens of through out the whole book. Wes is in and out of jail.

Drugs hurt families and Wes finally realized it here “ “Wes was tired. Tired of being locked up, tired of watching drugs destroy entire families, entire communities, an entire city.” (138) One of the questions we were ask at the beginning of this book was, “How many times does it take someone to learn from their mistakes”. My answer is it depends. Wes, after his first incident with the cops he didnt have a choice of getting a good paying job. That boat sailed already. So he did what he knew the best. Being a dealer. This is where he just fell. If his mother cared more for him and watched out for him, he would have turned out way different.