Life Choices

Any life choice can turn a person's life around positively or negatively. The choices we make do not only affect us, but they can also affect the people around us. Joy, Wes Moore's mother, decided to stay with her first husband knowing that he was not making the right choices. She later made the decision to leave him, which changed her and her daughter Nikki’s lives in positive ways. She decides to remarry and have two kids. When her husband got ill and passed, it forced Joy to make choices that she did not have planned. Joy had the option of filing a suit against the hospital or informs others about the condition that caused her husband's death. Before deciding, she thought about how each option could affect her children. Therefore; instead of going through a long battle against the hospital she chose to inform others about her husband's illness to save her children from the harmful effects a trial would have on her children. When Joy moved to New York with her parents, it changed Wes Moore's life. His behavior in school was affected in a negative way when he realized he did not fit in in the private school he was attending.  Wes Moore and his friend came from similar backgrounds and were the only two kids in school that did not fit in due to their race. His friend focuses on school and gets high grades, while Wes Moore gets involved in fights and slacks in school. They are both affected differently by the change of environment, which leads them to make different choices.

Mary, the other Wes Moore's mother, made choices that impacted her son's life. The other Wes Moore and his older brother, Tony, grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and are influenced by others to make the wrong choices. Tony starts doing drugs at a young age and ends up selling drugs. Eventually, he makes enough money to afford expensive clothing and accessories. Tony's life influenced the other Wes Moore's way of thinking, and eventually the choices he would make. When the other Wes Moore starts to play football in school, he starts to believe he is superior to everyone else in school and does not need to do any work. When the other Wes Moore starts to compare his life to his brother's, he begins to worry about making easy money instead of staying in school. To not follow in his brother's footsteps, Wes decides it is acceptable to wear stolen goods and get paid for it. Growing up, Wes and the other Wes Moore make choices that steer them away from the right path. They were both influenced by changes in their lives and the people around them.

In my life, I have witnessed plenty of choices impacting the lives of others. My parents chose to immigrate to this country when I was about two years old. This decision allowed my siblings to be born in a better country, but it brought me obstacles that I had to overcome. I was forced learn a new language and to adapt to a different living condition. Today, I am still trying to overcome the obstacles of being undocumented. Since my siblings were born here, they will not have trouble receiving financial aid or health insurance. My parents decided to provide me with a better education and more opportunities, but that decision it more beneficial to my siblings than to me. I must still face the hardships to one day be able to receive the same benefits as my siblings.