Although I grew up with both my parents, my father worked a 12-hour shift, so he could provide for all his children. Even though I had the love of both my parents, I chose to hang out with my neighbors most of the day. The neighborhood I lived in was full of drugs, violence and money. I wasn't really interested in the violence part. My father worked all day just so we could have the things we needed. I didn't want to waste our family's money, so I would never ask my mom or dad for any. I started dealing everything I had or could get my hands on. It was a bad decision but at that moment I didn't think about the consequences. I was just trying to get my hands on a lot of money. I started robbing places and people and ended up getting arrested a couple of times. Before I started to realize that, in the long run, things would get worse. The first time I got arrested, I didn't even care. I just wanted to get the process done and get back to what I was doing. My mind was set to think “Damn, how could you make a stupid mistake and get caught like that.” My mother was totally shocked when she found out that I was getting into trouble, because I had not received any complaints from school for bad behavior or bad grades, and I had never let my mother know that I was doing all these unnecessary things. . Eventually I was sent to boarding school and now my life has changed completely. My environment was having a great effect on my life. I have learned from my mistakes and am creating a better future for myself. I don't regret much because I have gained so much knowledge from the wrong things I have done in my life. The author Wes Moore had a change of environment and influences and found himself in a different situation than the other Wes Moor......middle of paper......he has a bad environment and a series of bad neighborhood influences. At this point the Author's mother is fed up with his mistakes. Even though he is struggling so much, he feels that if he doesn't do something he will lose his son forever. Asking for help from relatives and friends, he collects money and sends the Author to military school. Now let's see whether the change of environment had an effect on the Author or not. “. . . I heard the thunderous sound of 120 men all springing to attention… I had never seen anything like it before. I had never seen a man, a peer, demand so much respect from his people. I had seen Shea demand respect. . . but that was different. This was true respect, that you can't defeat or scare people. That's when I started to understand that I was in a different environment. "Works Cited The Other Wes Moore One Name Two Fates