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Alberto Ramos Daniel Scarpa ENGL 095 May 4, 2016 Wes Moore's Divergence While there were numerous factors that contributed to Wes Moore ending in a total different situation than the other Wes, arguably cultural legacy, habits, and support from family and mentors played a big role in the way each other' life developed. These three factors not only shaped their personalities but also, their almost inevitable future. Had cultural legacy been different for any of them, for better or for worst, their values would have been different as well, or had they changed the habits or at least one habit, they would have adopted a better or worse personality, similarly; if the amount of support they received from their respective families had increased or decreased, their opportunities to aspire to a better future would had also increased or decrease in accordance. The facts that they share the same color, the same name, and the same bad neighborhoods are irrelevant. Any person who possesses a strong cultural legacy that foster good values, would most likely belong to a family that shares the same values and would most likely create good habits as well, regardless of color, name, or residence. A strong Cultural legacy, good habits, and a consistent support from family and mentors was the formula for Wes (the author), to overcome falling in the game of d** and violence, and consequently; leading him into a world of success, similarly; a weak cultural legacy along with bad habits, and an inconsistent support from his family was the cause for the other Wes to fall in the obscure and sad world he lived in, and the even sadder world he is living in now. A few concepts from Charles Duhigg's the Power of Habit, and Malcom Gladwell's Outliers, will be apply on The Other Wes story in order to understand why each of them, ended up in very different scenarios. According to Charles Duhigg's book, The Power of Habit, “habits are powerful but delicate. They can emerge outside our consciousness or can be deliberately designed”. Wes, (author) started to create habits since he was a little boy based on the environment he was living in. When he was only three years old, for example; he had already created a habit which in turn, started to generate problems for him as such a young age. Wes and his sister Nicky liked playing cat-and-mouse all the time, and every time they did, Wes would end up jabbing at his sister's face. I could say that it was just a child's game, or a temporally reaction of the excitement that he experienced every time he managed to catch Nicky, however; it was much more than that. It was a bad habit already developed in his young brain, and the only reason it looked such an innocent game was that it was being performed by a three year old Wes Moore, Who was a kid with a limited ideas in his mind, and who did not know what he was doing or why he was doing it. All he knew was that he was having fun with his sister. Had Wes been older, the same habit would have looked much more frightful. Wes's mom knew this by fact, and she had a conscientious idea of where that kind of behavior could have taken Wes in his future, if she did not acted on time to break Wes's habits while he was still a boy. Wes's mom would not allow his impertinence; she would rather use any power she had to break up his bad habits. On the other hand, the lack of attention that the other Wes experienced by the continuous absence of his family, made him skeptical about following advices from anyone. The other west had already started unknowingly creating habits in his mind. Wes had his brother Tony, who he could have spent time with, playing or doing things that young brothers normally do, but Tony would rather spend most of his time in the hallways of murphy homes, and whatever time was left, he would spend it in his dad's house. Tony would rarely spend time with his little brother Wes. In like manner, Mary who was in her late twenties would show more concern about her own personal life than Wes's feelings at that early stage of his life. She would often live Wes to be watched by family members or friends while she celebrated with friends at nightclubs. Later, when Wes grew up a little bit more, Mary considered Wes no longer needed supervision, and so, he would stay home by himself. This situation, which had been going on for a while, caused that Wes did not fully trust anyone. He had his mom Mary, and his brother Tony, but neither really had ever been closed to him, consequently; he developed the habit of disregarding any advices coming from other people specially those closed to him; including his mom, his brother, and his friend woody, as well as his teachers at school. For instance, Wes would pretend to listen to Tony's advices about not following his steps, but he would take no notice. He would still go on and do whatever he thought was “good” for him. Duhigg's concept that the “Keystone habits prepare the ground for major habit change through small wins, and create structures that help other habits to flourish”, works both ways. The other Wes's habit of ignoring other people' advises for example, had taken him to the next level, and pretty soon he had adopted more bad habits, one after another, the habit of making “easy” money, the habit of trying to k** anyone who dare to insult his persona, and the habit of seducing a girl after another. Suddenly, he was full of harmful habits, and everything had started with only one. A habit that his own family had helped to create in Wes mentality by not having being around him long enough. Had Mary and Tony spent more time when Wes was a little kid, he would have developed a different habit of respect and trust, and things would have been different. But now it was too late, and no one had the required resources to pull him out the hole. Wes Moore's young age, and his physical and mental discomfort about being in a school, where the majority of the students were white rich,caused him to start creating a habit that made him look aimless. At Riverdale country school, where he never felt comfortable, his grades had plumed, and some teachers were complaining about his behavior. No matter what excuses Wes gave to his mom, or what the teachers said about him, Joy taught she new exactly what was going on with Wes. She taught Wes wasn't just working enough, however; what was really happening to Wes was that he was just an eleven year old kid going through a lot of pressure from his school, from his cla**mates, and from his friends in his neighborhood. He felt he was being perceived too poor to be at Riverdale school and too rich to live in his neighborhood. Wes had developed a habit of avoidance. Basically, every time that he found himself in a situation where he felt pressure, he would look for an exit to avoid it rather than confront it. This kind of behavior would have driven Wes toward a different path. Hadn't been for his mom who was always ready to confront Wes's loosing behavior and show him good habits.

Charles Duhigg's concept that the” habits can be overrated by other habits, but they will stay encrypted in the brain forever, ready to manifest at any moment", can be applied to Wes' situation when he earned his first yell from his mom When he was barely three years old, and then the same situation repeated again nine years later. Once again Wes jabbed at his sister's face, and once again his sister's face bled. To Joy, this incident along with Wes's low grades at school, and his teacher complaining about Wes's behavior, was a call of emergency. Wes was a tall and physically strong boy, and for the first time, Joy recognized that yelling at or slapping on his face to physically intimidate him was no longer an option, but no matter what, Joy was determined to turn Wes into a worthwhile man, and she would do whatever sacrifices where needed to keep Wes in the right track. Joy was not rich by any means, and neither were her parents, but they still managed to send Wes to Valley Forge Military Academy which was one of the most expensive schools around, mostly by using Joy's parent's Home equity which was predestined to their retirement. But, why would they sacrifice so much? Especially Wes grandparents who were seniors and whose house' equity was all they had to survive in their retirement. Wes was always lucky to have a family who would reprimand him for misbehaving, who would look after him, and who would give and do anything to keep him in the right track. Malcom Gladwell explains in his book “Outliers” on chapter six, how our tendencies are traced to our very early ancestors. Gladwell gave an example of the small town of Harlan Kentucky, whose people depended on a culture of honor in order to survive, similarly; Wes (Author)'s family had their own cultural legacy. Wes' family cultural legacy was mostly about love and appreciation towards the family, and it is shown in his own book on chapter one. Wes family ancestors lived for generations in Lowe River, a remote small village in Jamaica, where being born was a motive of celebration rather than a motive of discontentment. This love and appreciation towards the family back then was better represented by Wes's great-grandfather, who would plant in his house a coconut tree for every kid and grandkid born in the family. In the Bronx, the situation was different, but the cultural legacy was there, and for Wes' mom and his grandparents putting everything they had on Wes's education, was nothing but another way to show the love and appreciation they had for Wes. On the other hand, the cultural legacy that the other Wes carried on with him was best represented by his family, starting with his father, a drunken man who did not care about his son's needs, or his mom who preferred being with her friends at a night club than being with Wes at home. We could also mention Tony, Wes's brother who at age fourteen was already highly ranked in his gang, and Wes's grandparents who according to Wes (author) had lived in a world of racial segregation, economic contraction, and in an unresponsive political system. In other words, Wes's only legacy was being tough in order to survive. Wes (the Author), changed his habit of avoidance a few weeks after he came to Valley Forge Military Academy. Before, every time he felt pressure (the cue), he would look for an exit and run away rather than face the situation (the routine), the results would not be satisfactory but he would feel more relax (the reward). At Valley Forge, Wes felt the pressure as soon as he became part of it. He tried his normal routine, but soon, he realized that there was no way he could avoid this situation, and he was forced to change the routine (the golden rule of habit change) which in turn, changed the results. Now he would still feel the pressure (the cue), but he would confront the situation instead of running away (new routine). At the end he would still feel relaxed, but the results would be much more satisfactory. The other Wes had his own Cue-Routine-Reward concept. He would feel hanger for money (the cue), and in order to make it, he would go sell d** (the routine); then he would buy what he loved the most expensive clothes and shoes (the reward). Nevertheless, after a while, Wes was tire of everything that represented his life style, especially the d**, violence, and the consequences they brought with them. Fighting against his own cultural legacy, Wes tried to change his life by attending the Job Corps and learn a new carrier. Duhigg's golden rule of habit change, worked on Wes for some time. He had changed his routine in his Cue-Routine-Reward concept. He still felt hunger for money (the cue), but now he was working in a decent job to earn it (the routine), however; the fact that he had four children to feed and to clothe. Made his new nine dollars an hour job, to look very inconsistent, (reward failed). Wes had no other option than to go back to his previews environment, or should I say routine. From this point, considering the place each Wes is seating on, it is no difficult to figure out where each would end up. In other words, it would have taken a miracle for the other Wes no to ended up where he did. With the weak cultural legacy he carried on, the bad habits he developed since he was a kid along with the lack of support from his family, and the environment of d** and violence he grew up in, is not surprise he is in jail serving a life time sentence for murder. Similarly, it would have been unthinkable no to expect Wes (the author) to be successful in his future. He always had the support he needed even though the situation seemed misleading, furthermore; his family cultural legacy was so strong that no d** or violence could have broken it, and the habits he created at Valley Forge, were totally, and especially designed to create success. Moore, Moore, The Other Wes. New York:The Random House Publishing Group,2010. Gladwell,Malcolm, Outliers. New York: Back Bay Books/Little Brown and Company Hachette Book Group. Duhigg,Charles, The Power of Habit. USA: Random House Trade Paperbacks.