Systems and Structure - Are We Really Free to Choose

 Systems and Structure - Are We Really Free To Choose


At the heart of the luck vs. choice debate is a question: Are people truly free to shape their destiny? The stories of both Wes Moores suggest that the answer is both yes and no. Yes, we all make choices. But no, we don’t all make them under the same conditions. Circumstances, surroundings, and systemic forces shape the range and quality of the choices available. While one may choose between college or military school, another may only see a choice between survival through crime or becoming invisible in poverty.

The systems that shaped their lives, education, policing, housing, healthcare, were not equal. The author Wes had a support network that helped him navigate those systems. He had a mother who fought for his future, grandparents who stepped in, mentors who guided him, and schools that still held some hope. The other Wes faced barriers at every turn. His mother lost educational opportunities due to funding cuts. His community was flooded with drugs and policed aggressively. He didn’t fail because he didn’t try; he failed because the systems around him failed. The choices in front of him were filtered through survival, not growth.

The prison system, for example, is quick to punish but slow to rehabilitate. Once someone is caught in its web, it becomes difficult to escape. It brands people in a way that limits future opportunities. The education system in poor neighborhoods is often underfunded, overcrowded, and staffed by underpaid teachers who are forced to do more with less. These realities aren’t “bad luck”; they’re structural. They are the results of decades of policy decisions, economic inequality, and institutional neglect. When we blame individuals entirely for their outcomes, we ignore the role of policy and prejudice.

Institutional racism, poverty cycles, and lack of access to mental health resources all played a role in determining the paths of the two Wes Moores. For the author Wes, success was not just the result of good decisions, it was the result of systems that supported those decisions. It was mentors and opportunities showing up at the right time. For the other Wes, failure wasn’t due to a lack of effort, it was the result of systems that obstructed progress and silenced potential. The support came too late or not at all.

This final post in the series calls for empathy and systemic awareness. The story of Wes Moore is not just about two boys; it’s about America. It’s about how we define responsibility, how we distribute opportunity, and how we judge success. It’s a reminder that we need to fix broken systems, not just scold broken outcomes. The narrative reminds us that compassion must extend beyond individuals and into the policies that shape lives.

We must ask ourselves: What structures are in place to help kids succeed? Who gets second chances, and who gets written off? Are we offering the same level of support to all children, or only to the lucky ones? What does justice look like when two people make different decisions, but only one is given the room to recover from mistakes?

In the end, The Other Wes Moore teaches us that luck and choice are partners in every life story. Understanding both is the first step to building a more just and compassionate world. And perhaps more importantly, it challenges us to be part of the systems that create opportunity, offer guidance, and truly make freedom of choice possible for everyone. We all have a role to play, not just in telling stories of transformation, but in making those transformations possible in the first place.

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