The lessons of your environment

 

             The Lessons of your environment

                                                      By Samir Ramessar 

In the Other Wes Moore, we see characters learn from their environment. An example of this is Wes Moore the author. We watch him become more disciplined from being in military school.Wes learns how to carry himself and becomes a promising young man who goes on to accomplish many great feats. Him being sent to military school changed his life for the better. Wes was going down a bad path due to the bad influences in the Bronx, but a change of environment taught him many valuable skills that shaped him for the better. 

Another example is Wes Moore (not the author). Wes learned how to become a drug dealer through his environment. The area where Wes lived was riddled with drug runners, including his own brother. Wes learned how to make drugs, sell drugs, and hide his supply through his environment. His environment also taught him how to maneuver in certain situations.  

Both Wes Moores were taught valuable lessons through their environment. While Wes(not the author) may have learned negatively through his environment, lessons were taught nonetheless. One benefited positively while the other was affected negatively. The lessons from their respective environments shaped both of them, whether positively or negatively. Both characters learned lessons that could be attributed to future endeavors. 

In my own personal experience, my environment has taught me many lessons.I grew up in a rougher part of town, so I learned to be vigilant and attentive to my surroundings. I also learned that being extremely trusting and naive could put me in harm's way.As people may not always have my best interest in mind. I learned at an early age that not everything is what it may appear to be. Overall, my environment taught me street smarts. I learned how to maneuver and what is socially acceptable in certain areas.  

In conclusion, we all learn lessons through our environment, which can be either positive or negative. We witness this with both Wes Moores: the author gains positive lessons from his environment(military school), while the other Wes Moore learns negatively from his. Both characters were shaped by the lessons of their environment. We learn lessons in every environment that we are in. I can attest to that from experience:I’ve taken away some sort of lesson everywhere I’ve been, some positive and others negative. For example, I got on the wrong bus on my way home from school. I’m not a native of Jersey city,  I wasn’t entirely familiar with the bus routes. I needed to take a bus to get me down to Communipaw Avenue, but I ended up getting on the 119 to New York City instead of the 119 to Bayonne. All was fine until I noticed the bus passed my stop,even though I had signaled the driver to stop. I was confused, so I walked up to the driver and asked if she could stop. I was told that this bus went all the way to the path trains, and that the first stop wasn’t until Journal Square( which is about 20 minutes past my original stop). In all, I learned a valuable lesson: just because two buses have the same number, doesn’t mean they make the same stops.