Are we products of our expectations or environment?

Expectations or environment? Which makes us who we are? This is one of the prevailing questions in the book, The Other Wes Moore, written by Wes Moore. This book is about two men from the same neighborhood with very similar pasts who have grown up to have drastically different futures. The author, Wes Moore is an accomplished politician and Rhode Scholar, in contrast, the other Wes Moore is spending his life in jail without parole due to a bank robbery gone wrong. These men had very similar environments as they grew up in the same neighborhood in Baltimore. However, the expectations placed on these men were drastically different. 

The environment that one is born into is a very important factor in one's future, things like money and where you live are all conditions that affect your environment. However, we also have the power to change our environment. It is by no means easy but we can move and work hard. The environment we are born into is just one of the environments we will exist in. We have the power to change that. 

Our expectations are placed on us and are determined by our actions and potential. Although the environment does affect this, it's truly individual to what our expectations are. If someone is a hard worker and often accomplishes a lot their expectations might be higher. Expectations also regularly come from family. Families can expect each other to be kind, and generous, or they can expect nothing. In the book, The Other Wes Moore, the Wes Moore who is in jail had almost no expectations from his family, they were not supportive and did not expect anything of him. Whereas the author Wes Moore was expected to be a good man despite growing up in a not-so-great area. His family expected him to work hard in life, and to be kind to others, especially women. 

Expectations and environment are intertwined, however, the expectations we have placed on us are more important to our future than our environment. Our expectations create pressure that most people feel the need to live up to. Personally, if there is an expectation placed on me I am going to do my best to live up to it. Right now I am facing the expectation to work very hard on my dancing. This expectation is placed by both me and my teachers. I do care a lot about my dancing which makes me passionate about achieving it. However, the pressure from my teachers to live up to their expectations is intense and only makes me want to work more. The same was true for the author Wes Moore, his family expected a lot of him both in school and his personal life. This helped his drive to achieve all that was expected of him. 

Overall both expectation and environment have a ton to do with our future however, expectation is more impactful. This is because it is harder to change expectations. Whether these expectations are self-created or placed on you by your family, it is harder to rid of this pressure. Changing your environment is also difficult, but moving or getting a different job is easier than changing someone's
opinion of you.