Wes Moore Tells ODU Audience About the Thin Line Between Happiness and Tragedy
November 05, 2014
Wes Moore told his inspiring story to a rapt audience at Old Dominion University, but the author and social entrepreneur was particularly focused on saying what his life could have become.
Born in poverty in a fatherless home in Baltimore, Moore would go on to become a bestselling author, a Rhodes Scholar, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
But Moore, who delivered a President's Lecture Series address to a crowd of 350 at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on Tuesday, Nov. 4, said the line between the success he had and the struggles of other individuals is incredibly thin.
"It's incredible how thin that line is between our life and someone else's life," Moore said. "The smallest, accidental steps in the right direction can make all the difference in where you end up and what you do."
Moore's bestselling book "The Other Wes Moore" tells parallel stories of his own life, and another young black man raised in poverty in Baltimore. Moore ended up a graduate Johns Hopkins, the founder of nationally recognized social organizations. The other Wes Moore ended up in prison, convicted of murder.
Moore told ODU students, many of whom had read "The Other Wes Moore" as a class assignment, that everyone needs to be mindful about the small gap between success and catastrophic failure in America today, and to do their part to make their voices heard.
"I'm incredibly thankful that so many of you have read my book, because this is exactly the kind of conversation I wanted people to have about it," Moore said.
Relating his own experience, Moore said when he would inform people he was in college, the first question he would be asked is "what's your major," as the person he met tried to form a picture of who he was. As time has passed, those questions are less important, but Moore said the other lessons learned in college are even more important today.
"Never forget about why you're actually here," he said. "Who did you choose to fight for? Who did you choose to stand with, when it wasn't popular, but it was the right thing to do."
Moore told the audience the other Wes Moore in his book might have been even more successful than he has turned out to be, if someone had been there to stand up for him, to guide him, to steer him from trouble when the rest of his life hung in the balance.
In his professional career, Moore has dedicated himself to being that voice. While a student at Johns Hopkins he founded STAND!, which works with Baltimore youth involved in the criminal justice system and still exists today. Moore completed a degree in International Relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 2004.
Today, Moore is the founder and CEO of BridgeEdU, an innovative college completion platform that addresses the college completion and career placement crisis by reinventing the freshman year in a way that engages students in real-world internships and service learning opportunities. He has been featured by USA Today, People Magazine, "Meet the Press," "The Colbert Report," "The View," MSNBC, and NPR, among many others.
Moore is also the host of "Beyond Belief" on the Oprah Winfrey Network and Executive Producer and host of "Coming Back with Wes Moore" on PBS.
The ODU President's Lecture Series speeches are free and open to the public, and have previously included addresses by scientists, writers, educators, historians and Pulitzer Prize winners.