I first met Wes Moore a little over a decade ago. His good friend, Justin Brandon who was a teacher and dean at EA, and I collaborated to have him come and speak to the EA Community in Chapel. He has recently been elected to be the Democratic Governor of Maryland. I noticed that Justin has a picture of him and Wes together on his home page on Facebook. I remember that Justin was thrilled to have Wes Moore be a chapel speaker. The reason that both of us were excited to have him in chapel was the result of reading Moore’s book, The Other Wes Moore, which was published in 2011.
I followed Wes Moore’s campaign for governor and didn’t hear enough about that book that he authored and spoke about in the ’44 chapel. My thoughts were that if people just read that book, he will be elected in a minute. It is the story of two boys with the same name who grew up in poverty who had two different fates, one becomes successful and is a future governor and one goes to jail for the rest of his life.
The Wes Moore who spoke in chapel escaped growing up poor to become a captain in the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army where he served in combat in Afghanistan. He was a Phi Betta Kappa graduate of John Hopkins University, a Rhodes Scholar with a master’s degree from Oxford University, and a White House Fellow. His life teaches an absolute in my life that I have said more times than I can count. Education creates a level playing field. The other Wes Moore, his namesake, did not escape the same community in the same way. He committed a terrible crime and will spend the rest of his life in prison.
The governor elect wrote to the other Wes Moore who was in prison. He wrote letters to him and interviewed him, all of which form the essence of his book, The Other Wes Moore. He is a published author and has been involved with institutions and media as well as an investment banker to raise people up. Let’s not label him with the brush stroke of perfection. He has made some bad choices himself like the rest of us.
Everyone should read his book. A great book should help the reader learn life lessons and, where possible, can see his or her life in the narrative. I am not black. I had no one who had the same name as me spend their life in prison, but I remember Wes Moore’s chapel address as well as the life lessons for the listener. It stirred universal themes in me. Common themes, for example, were that you are the master of your own future, the power of choices, the importance of education as a way out of poverty, the awesome nature of living as people who intersect with fate for the good and the bad, and to honor others.
I first realized that Wes Moore was running for office when I passed a billboard as I was traveling through Maryland. It had his picture and his campaign slogan on it which was straight from his service in the armed forces. “Leave no one behind.” I can’t think of a better slogan for all of us particularly following Veterans Day. It is our duty and commitment to thank as often as possible our Veterans with that simple but profound phrase which is a form of a prayer, “Thank you for your service.”
I think that one of the powerful messages of Wes Moore’s book is that in the most real sense he could say, “There but for the grace of God go I.” I think that we are better people when we can adopt that phrase more often in our attitude toward others particularly those who have fallen on hard times. When was the last time that you or I thought about that phrase in providing an empathetic response to someone in need?
Wes Moore has the same reaction that I do that in the still of the night. I sometimes shudder at how a decision of mine or someone else’s decision about me could have taken me down a different path. Our life is a series of choices. Ultimately, we are responsible for what we become. Oprah who supported Wes’ book was asked a quote that she lived by. It is the words from William Ernest Henley’s Invictus,
“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged the punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul.”
What’s in a name? For the name of Wes Moore, it could describe a wonderful life of accomplishment. For someone else with the same name, it could show us a life of despair. My father, the 6th grade graduate philosopher, said it succinctly. “Jim, you have one last name. Don’t do something to mess it up. Your name is the most valuable thing you have.”
Honor others for what they value in their lives even though it may not seem important by the world’s standards. I went back to a high school reunion a few years ago and to this day I can remember only one exchange. It was with a classmate, an end on the football team, who had just retired as a truck driver. He was nervous because he had just applied for a job that he really wanted as badly as any politicians who were recently seeking office. This classmate knew that many others had applied. I asked him what he wanted to do in his retirement, he said, “I applied to be a crossing guard for school children. You know where you go in the middle of the road and hold up a sign that says “stop” so the elementary school kids can safely cross. I hope I get it!” That was his dream job in his retirement. Leave no one behind or in other words don’t treat someone else’s dream as not as important as yours whatever it happens to be. Bring them along. Raise them up!
Bring them along! Raise them up! See their dream as important as yours. Leave no one behind.
That is why Wes Moore was elected to be the first African American Governor of Maryland.
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