All and Moore

    The environment an individual resides in heavily impacts the future personality and in turn outcome for that person. Depending on how one would define environmental factors, it can include expectations of surrounding individuals, mentors or role models, and various other elements. For one, Wes, there was no mentor like Mayor Schmoke who could help guide the way for him. As a result, that Wes Moore idolized other figures like rappers who touted lifestyles that consisted of selling drugs and all that the street life entailed. Despite this, taking into account the various other facets that both Wes Moores provided and the various points in which their circumstances and choices aligned and diverged, I still believe a person's fate is not solely influenced by their environments. Admittedly, the procurement of this belief was influenced by my sanguine or hopeful outlook on life. To say that a person's purpose is defined by the environment they are born into is to relinquish any agency over life itself. It strips any decisions of value. Since I not only believe wholeheartedly that that is false, but also know that this cannot be true for the betterment of humanity, I am able to work from that perspective to delineate the components that produce an individual's outcome. Furthermore, I do not believe that if this statement were true, humanity would have ever been able to evolve to where we are now. Not to mention, there are a myriad of historical figures whose stories and contributions to the world would be anomalies to this notion that would contradict it. 

   In a portion of Wes’s story, he put a sincere effort towards the Job Corps Center and acquired his GED yet still struggled to find stable employment and would go on to return to the drug trade. A lifestyle that led to a prison cell that he was expected to be in. That being said, a large proponent towards his return to selling drugs was the mounting financial pressure to provide for his family. A pressure that was self imposed in numerous ways. A pressure that he had salience over and in conjunction with numerous other missteps contributed to current state as well. I believe there is always an individualized component just as in this case where after a certain point Wes had the ability to choose a different path. There were different people in both Wes’s lives but neither were surrounded entirely by people who wanted the worst or best for them. This wasn’t the lifestyle Wes’s mother envisioned for him. While the people around you can have an impact on the choices you make in life, they do not entirely force your decisions. This notion can only be required when a person relinquishes power over their own life just as Wes did time and time again and was a factor in his current situation. The coalescence of individualism, environmental factors, and choice is experience. Thus I reaffirm that a persons experiences shape who they become and not solely there environment.