What Happens When Someone Does Anything to be Included?

  While reading the first three chapters of “Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” by Wes Moore, I noticed one recurring theme. This theme was inclusion. Both of the Wes Moores wanted to feel accepted, and went to great ends to try and get this feeling. And even though they may have ended up in different places, the ways they went about to fulfill this need were not all too different in the beginning. For Wes, the best example of attempting to fit in was in his new school. He writes, “I tried to hide the fact that my family was so much poorer than everyone else’s at school. I had three ‘good’ shirts and three ‘good’ pairs of pants. I would rotate their order, mixing and matching, so that each day I had on a fresh combination” (Moore 52). This is just one of the many examples that demonstrates how far a child will go to feel included. This inability to fit in causes Wes to act out and nearly makes him fail out of his classes. His experience reminds readers just how important it is to have inclusive environments where everyone can fit in. In the case of the other Wes Moore, he did not struggle as much to fit in, but that may be because he was more willing to do dangerous things earlier on in his life to do so. This is said about the other Wes Moore’s experience with trying to impress his friends at a party, “After a moment to think about whether he should take it, he came to the obvious solution: he was going to turn this barbecue into a real party. Wes put the weed in his pocket and went to wait outside for Woody. As soon as he saw his friend round the corner, he yelled in excitement, ‘wait till you see what I’ve got!” (Moore 59). This first interaction with drugs was the gateway into the rest of his life.  When I read this, I could not help but wonder what would have happened if he had never had this interaction. Would he be the same if he had not wanted to impress his friend? This is another, though more serious, example of how far someone to go to feel like they fit in. To demonstrate even further, we can look at Wes Moore and what happened when he thought he could not say no to someone asking him to tag a wall with spray paint. Wes states, “As I lay on the hood of the car, with the officer’s hands pressing against every part of me, searching me, I watched Shea twenty feet on the ground getting the same treatment” (Moore 81). If Wes had not worried so much about losing respect from his neighborhood friends he would have never have ended up in that situation. The sad part is, these are just two of many different examples of all of the stupid things the Wes Moores did to feel wanted. The lack of a safe space for the two of them pushed them to these limits, and part of what makes this story so heart-wrenching is that there are Wes Moores everywhere living through these experiences today.

https://youtu.be/6SnXBKEfr2s?t=6

This video explains inclusion and the importance of being included