The Theme of Consequences of Choices in The Other Wes Moore

             In the last part of The Other Wes Moore, the major theme is choices
and their consequences. By this point in the story, both men stand at turning points that reveal how the decisions they make shape the rest of their lives in completely different ways. Their situations are the results of their choices, especially when the consequences catch up to them. 

For the other Wes Moore, the consequences of his choices arrive suddenly and brutally. In Chapter 7, he gets involved in the jewelry store robbery that ends with an off-duty police officer being killed. Up until this point, Wes has drifted between moments where he wants to do better and moments where he falls deeper into the streets. But when the robbery happens, everything changes. It’s no longer skipping school or lying to his mother, It’s a life-altering decision. When Wes and his brother are arrested, the seriousness of what they’ve done becomes real. The trial, the evidence, the witnesses, the years of choices lead to his life-sentence. Chapter 8 and the Epilogue drive this home: the other Wes spends the rest of his life in prison, and his choices, big and small, add up to a consequence he can’t undo. 

Meanwhile, the author Wes Moore is experiencing a different kind of turning point. The discipline he resisted back in the military school has now become part of who he is. He goes to college, joins the military, and begins shaping a better future for himself. Almost every decision he makes in these chapters is a response to earlier moments where he realized what running away or ignoring responsibility had cost him. By the Epilogue, he becomes a
and travels the world, but he never forgets how close he came to being on a different path.  

These chapters made me think about how my own choices carry consequences too, even if they aren’t as extreme as the ones in the book. In my life, I’ve had moments where I didn’t want to listen to the people trying to guide me, just like both Wes Moores had adults warning them about where certain choices might lead. My parents would tell me to study, finish my work, or go to bed on time, and I’d ignore them because I thought I knew better. I’d stay up late playing Xbox with my friends, thinking I’ll study later. But in class the next day, the consequences would hit harder than expected. I’d walk into class unprepared and completely lost when taking the test, and when the test came back, the grade was something I wasn’t proud of. Suddenly, the fun night didn’t seem so worth it anymore. Then when I came home and told my mother she would get angry and take my Xbox and iPad and study with me to make sure I would get a good grade for the next test. Another example is when I was younger playing little league my father or coach would tell me what I was doing wrong but being stubborn I wouldn’t listen. Then after months of struggling, I would figure out what I was doing wrong, and it was the thing they pointed out weeks ago.  

The final chapters of the book show the simple truth that it is impossible to ignore choices matter. They can be a way to improve or destroy one’s future. And in my own life, I’ve started to see how much power my decisions hold. The consequences may not show up right away, but they always arrive, just like they did for both Wes Moores.