the Other Wes Moore (2010) by Moore Wes

the Other Wes Moore (2010) by Moore Wes

Author:Moore, Wes [Wes, Moore,]
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-14T19:11:30.421000+00:00


As I sat on the other end of the line, listening to my mother talk about "sacrifice," I had no idea what my grandparents had given up. The five minutes went fast, and Colonel Batt signaled it was time for me to hang up and go to bed. "I love you, and I am proud of you. And, Wes, it's time to stop running," my mother said as I hung up.

I was sent back to my room to lie down for the three hours before I would be driven awake again by the same trash-can-drumming, light-flashing, music-blaring, insult-laden wake-up call as every other godforsaken morning in this hellhole.

The next day, as we prepared to head to second mess, which was what they tellingly called lunch, I noticed the black man from the night before standing next to Colonel Batt. They were talking and looking in my direction. Even when I was standing at attention with my eyes to the front, their piercing gazes felt like they were burning a hole through me. Finally the two men saluted, and the black man walked back toward F Company, the college freshmen and sophomores. It was known around the entire corps as the most squared away, the most impressive company. Its members were the best marchers, the most athletic, the most disciplined. Whoever was in charge of them was doing an amazing job. I wondered whether that man who was talking to Colonel Batt was going to fall into the ranks, but as my eyes followed him, I heard the thunderous sound of 120 men all snapping to attention. Nineteen-year-old Cadet Captain Ty Hill took his place at the front of F Company.

In spite of myself, I was impressed. I had never seen anything like that before. I had never seen a man, a peer, demand that much respect from his people. I had seen Shea demand respect in the neighborhood, but this was different. This was real respect, the kind you can't beat or scare out of people. That's when I started to understand that I was in a different environment. Not simply because I was in the middle of Pennsylvania instead of the Bronx or Baltimore. It was a different psychological environment, where my normal expectations were inverted, where leadership was honored and class clowns were ostracized. I was still watching Captain Hill out of the corner of my eye when Colonel Batt moved toward me.

After I'd left Colonel Batt's office the night before, my mother had called back and asked to speak to Captain Hill. She had met him once, through Colonel Bowe, the admissions officer who'd convinced her to send me to Valley Forge. I placed Bowe right up there with my roommate as a person to blame for my current existence. Colonel Bowe had told my mother--when she was still on the fence about military school--that he wanted to introduce her to a college sophomore from Texas who was about to become an officer in the Army and was one of the true stars of the school.



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