The Dithering of a District Diva

Ar·che·type –noun: “the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.” The Archetype Series — a companion series to “The Prototype” series — honors Black men who are doing amazing things in the world to remind us that: 1) they exist, *do not believe the hype*; and 2) we can all do amazing things, too. Break down their model, explore their mindset, adopt their habits, and use them to reach your own goals. Anyone can do it. Everyone won’t.

February’s Archetype: Wes Moore, a 2004 Rhodes Scholar, 2006 White House Fellow, financial analyst, youth advocate, Afghan war veteran, and New York Times best-selling author of The Other Wes Moore.

When examining the life of Wes Moore, one thing is undeniable: this is a man with a heart for serving others.  After receiving his Masters in International Relations as a Rhodes Scholar in 2004, Wes voluntarily left a lucrative job as a financial analyst to serve a combat tour in Afghanistan, leading members of his former Army brigade. He says of the decision:

It was a challenging decision, to say the least. My wife [Dawn Flythe Moore] knows it now, but at the time I told her that it was a call-up [mandatory service], but really, I volunteered. One of my dear, dear friends was the director of the brigade I was going with and I decided that if he was going to go over there, then I was going to go with him. There were soldiers in that brigade that we had trained from basic [training], so I wanted to make sure that they had the best training possible and best leadership.

CPT Moore

And his loyalty to his fellow war veterans is still evident today in his service on the Board of Directors for the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Association (IAVA).  Wes also has a passion for disadvantaged youth, which shines through in STAND! — the organization he founded through his alma mater, John Hopkins University — which mentors students from juvenile detention centers in his native city, Baltimore, Maryland.  And even his current career in finance is rooted in a desire to understand how to better implement policies that will best serve people:

When I was working down in the White House and [the Department of] Homeland Security [as a White House fellow and special assistant to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice], part of my responsibility was to collapse 20 different federal agencies into one department, and that meant combining budgets and pensions — work I had no background in. I had a multi-billion dollar department and I had no clue about financial management. It was then that I realized that if you don’t have a grasp on how budgets are going to work, then you’ll have no grasp on policy.  So, I figured I needed to learn as much as possible.

But what is just as fascinating as his remarkable achievements and servant’s heart, is the road he traveled down that molded him into who he is today.  Fully documented in his New York Times best-selling memoir and biography, The Other Wes Moore, Wes’ fatherless childhood and inner-city upbringing set the stage for what could have been an entirely different fate.  In fact, the book details not only his own life story, but the story of another Wes Moore who was two years older, lived in the same Baltimore neighborhood, and also suffered from a fatherless childhood — yet the other Wes Moore is serving a life sentence for the murder of an off-duty Baltimore police officer. The Other Wes Moore explores how these two young men, leading such paralleled lives and making many of the same mistakes in their youth, could end up worlds apart.  Because Wes understood that “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine, and that the tragedy is that my story could have been his,” Wes has dedicated himself to youth advocacy and to education reformation:

Wes speaking at Patterson Middle School

[Writing the other Wes Moore’s story in addition to my own] shattered me, even to this day [because of the harrowing reality of the murder the other Wes participated in]. But I also knew that the only way this story could mean something and be useful, was to not be judgmental of him and share his story. We had to see why his fate was sealed long before the judge said he would spend life in prison. A story like Wes’ is not normally told. So many times we see the reality of people in prison and we don’t think to ask why. We’re heartbroken by the numbers, but we don’t ask, “what are the implications?” Or, “what does this mean?” and that’s why I wanted to do this book. Things have to change.

You can’t address poverty without first addressing education. If you can give these kids a hope and an option for what they can do with their life, there is no telling how drastically different their lives can be, and our society can be because of their impact.  And it’s not just about putting more money into the system. We’ve had a 35% increase in education funding and we’ve seen receding results, so there has to be a holistic approach to the structural challenges we’re facing in the education system.

In addition to policy initiatives, there must be personal responsibility and strong parental involvement.  Having two parents in the home — and this is not only anecdotal but statistical — those children have a much better chance to succeed.  It’s a better situation. I grew up in a single parent household, so I know success is still possible, but when you have two people taking ownership, you have two different sets of eyes that can watch over the child, and hopefully a strong support system for the child. Family and community must play a role in raising that child.

Though Wes hails President Obama’s “Race to the Top” program as “one of the greater federal initiatives for education reform that we’ve had in this decade,” he insists that more must be done, not only on the federal level, but on the state and local levels:

I think its important for kids to grow up in a strong school system with a strong curriculum. School can’t just last from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; you cant have 180 school days in a year and expect to compete globally. These are key structural elements that need to be in place.

One of the things I am working on now is a non-profit that helps to prepare kids for school. How they perform in school is an indicator of how a child will perform for the rest of his life.  So we have to equip them so that they can compete. The average low income kid has heard 30 million less words than children of families with higher incomes, so its an up-hill battle to compete with their affluent counterparts. It’s also difficult for kids to learn when they’re not in school. Far too much information is lost over summer break. If you’re not spending time during the summer going to museums and reading books, those are just lost days. So one of the things I’m doing is helping to mentor parents, teaching them reading skills and learning skills so we can have more children who are learning outside of school, and to have parents who are equipped to help their children learn. Individually, we’ve got to have parents stepping up and taking responsibility, but on a policy side, education reform is a must.

With his prestigious political background, expertise in foreign affairs, and passion for social action and policy initiatives, it is no wonder that people have been speculating about Wes becoming “The Next Barack Obama.”  But Wes has no political ambitions — for now, at least:

I know I always want to be involved in the public conversation and create policies that make sense, and do things that directly and positively impact people. What that looks like, I really have no idea. But I am completely convinced that the way to make a difference is not necessarily running for office. I know there are a lot of ways to make a difference, and running for office is just one of them.

Wes is certainly living a life dedicated to making a difference.  He credits the bold choices he has made to his mother and grand parents who not only allowed his dreams, but encouraged them, and instilled in him that through faith, all things are possible:

[Before I left for Afghanistan,] my grandparents gave me a Bible. In the front of the Bible they wrote, “Have faith, not fear.” And that has been so important to me. It’s impossible to always know what the right answer is. All we can know is that we prepared ourselves best and that we have faith it will turn out well because we’ve prepared well. So it’s been faith that has carried me.

Another important thing is that you cannot be afraid to fail. So many people get caught up in the fear of failure that they cannot even get into the arena, but rejection is a part of life. I have no problem with failure. It just means I have to reevaluate. My list of failures is much longer than my list of accomplishments, and that’s one thing I hope people realize: When you look at the most successful people in the world, their lives are littered with failures. But the difference is that they learned to turn failures into successes.  Things will not always work out, but you must learn how to win — and how to lose. My sister says, “My definition of hell is God showing me all the things I could have accomplished had I only tried.” I never want to be in that position. If I wasn’t able to do it, then so be it; but it won’t go undone because I failed to try.

When all is said and done, he hopes his legacy will be that he “not only called people to action by [his] words, but by [his] actions”:

I hope that I’ve been useful; that with the time that God put me on this earth, I did some thing to make this place better. I learned that from my mother, leave it better than when you first arrived. I want to make sure that my community, the environment and the world is better, and that my existence here mattered.

What we can learn from Wes: Have a servant’s heart; learn how to win and how to lose; do not be crippled by the fear of failure; “have faith, not fear”; and live a life that matters.

Elevating and educating, Wes Moore is: The Archetype.

Buy The Other Wes Moore below!

Amazon.com Widgets

Follow DCDistrictDiva on Twitter.  Become a fan of “The Dithering of a District Diva” on Facebook.

Comments

comments