The Other Wes Moore Sparknotes

Second Chances are Rare, but Drugs are Not
The book The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, governor of Maryland, tells the life stories of two different people that have the same name and how their lives intertwine and split. Throughout the book, the reader experiences the hardships, successes, and struggles of the two Wes Moores. Through these life stories, Moore’s book is simultaneously politically demoralizing as well as self-invigorating. We can see this as we look at what drug use and second chances mean for the reader.

The book has messages that make people think about how their government could have prevented the influx of drugs and crime rates. “Crack was different from the drugs that preceded it. It was crazily accessible and insanely

These drugs, especially if they were “crazily accessible”(51) should have been taken away by the government. It is indeed impossible to take away all the drugs in a community, but it was impossible for the government to have no knowledge of the issue, thus they should have worked harder to prohibit or lessen drug usage. Plus, it was so addictive that “A pregnant mother sold her body to get another hit”(51). This drives home the point that drugs are detrimental to one’s mentality and health. A mother, responsible for another life on top of hers, is willing to sell her body for drugs. This spurs the reader to think about what could fix these inconceivable actions. Fixes for these actions come in many different forms, like treatment centers or stricter drug laws, both of which must be sanctioned or carried out by the government and enforced by police. None of this happened during the time the Weses were growing up. In turn, this caused, “an almost 61 percent jump in

I’ve made countless mistakes and sometimes, “The mistakes you make trying are pretty unforgiving—And second chances are pretty fleeting”(66). When I think about all the second chances I’ve had, even the small ones, I’ve noticed that I have taken them for granted. Moore’s book made me think about how others might not get second chances and how we, as a human race, should take advantage of our chances. “These incarcerated men, before they’d even reached a point of basic maturity, had flagrantly—and tragically—squandered the few opportunities they had.”