Last week, I went to the local library in North Miami Beach to relax and read.  The quiet atmosphere of the library just seems so conducive to reflection, meditation and reading.  I was surprised by the number of young people, middle-aged as well as aged who were there.(Of course, I am neither) Then it dawned on me that the library is a great place to pursue your dreams. And that is what many of the visitors were doing - reading, writing, watching videos and researching.

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When I left the library, I had checked out four books to read at home. The most challenging, inspiring and intriguing was The Other Wes Moore written by Road Scholar and a combat veteran of Afghanistan, Wes Moore. The subtitle of the book is "One Name, Two Fates."  It is a tense and compelling narrative of two young men from Baltimore, Maryland with the same name, similar history and environment. One grew up to be a Rhode Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison for murder.

 

 

The book chronicles the events which shaped the lives both young men - both grew up in similar neighborhoods and had very difficult childhoods. Both were fatherless, had hung out on street corners with the unsavory of society and had their share of troubles with the police.  At similar crucial junctions in their lives, they both had difficult choices to make. Their decisions let them to very different destinies.

 

 

As I read this captivating book, I couldn't help but reflect on the famous poem by Robert Frost:

 

The Road Not Taken

 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood                                  

And sorry I could not travel both                               

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

 

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

 

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!                                                          

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 

Yes, the two roads "diverged in a wood" and both young men made their choices. Those choices "made all the difference." 

 

One Wes came to realize that life's impermanence is “what makes every day so precious. It's what shapes our time here. It's what makes it so important that not a single moment is wasted." Although influenced by his negative environment, he learned the power of a dream, the impact of family, the influence of mentors, the challenges of discipline and the value of responsibilities.


Wes Moore came to " see the boundless possibilities of the wider world and the unexplored possibilities within myself. people who taught me that no accident of birth - not being black or relatively poor, being from Baltimore or the Bronx or fatherless - would ever define or limit me." He took the high road, the one "less travelled by." '


For the rest of this blog and how you can get a copy of this  intriguing book visit here.


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Comments

  • This is a great post Stephen and I never gave it a thought about going to the library to study and that book sounds really good.  Will be searching for that.  All the best.

  • Thanks Angela, Terri and Tim for your positive comments. Reading is essential to growth and learning. Unfortunately, it is a loss exercise today in many communities.
  • Thanks Stephen,my team are taught to read daily,a lot of benefits are gained from daily reading,knowledge being one.

  • Top Member

    I agree with Angela as well, it sounds like a great book. I will make a note to check it out. Happy to share your post for you. All the best for you in your life and business.

  • Excellent post Stephen.  They always say that Readers are Leaders.  Sounds like a great book.  Thanks for sharing.  Liked and Shared.

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