Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon PART II: Baltimore's Seven Degrees of Wes Moore
Part 2
The average Baltimorean thinks asking the question, where did you go to high school is the areas version of seven degrees of Kevin Bacon. But I am here to argue, it begins in infancy. starting with music class or my gym. Baltimore is small and laid out like a patchwork quilt. It’s a place where socio-economic lines clash. So, if you think and invest your time and money properly, the world really can be your oyster. That which we put effort into is that which reaps us great rewards.
It was the teacher meet and greet at my eldest child’s private preschool. These events are as comfortable as having a cavity removed without Novocain. Doable and necessary, but not high on the desire-to-do scale. To make it more rewarding I didn’t know anyone, so I was in introduction mode. I was visibly pregnant at the time and my sensitivity meter was running low. When I ran into another mother who appeared to be at the end of her pregnancy I began with a low brow conversation starter, “when are you due?”
Please keep in mind, that I earned a living for many years via my adept social skills. I read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People on more than one occasion. I knew it was inappropriate without the other person’s verbal entre to ask about someone’s occupation, let alone that of their spouse. But in this case, she accepted my verbal tete -a-tete and we continued chatting.
It turned out her husband was a writer. I prodded further and learned he was Wes Moore who published the New York Times Best Selling book, “The Other Wes Moore.” I had no idea that’s who she was and had been encouraged to read the book by my pastor at church who recommended it to me as a read for a financial literacy course with which I was involved.
My worlds were colliding. My daughter, who I’d decided to devote much of my existence to had brought me here. The financial literacy course I attended for years where we talked personal finances with young homeless mothers as they worked their way out of financial distress made me want to change the world. I wanted to open opportunities for the life of my daughter and have her see me accomplish a fulfilling career as well as be a parent. The desire to write and publish a book one day was in the Moore’s family too. I was inspired to share with people how to release themselves from a legacy of poor decision making. How to distance themselves from the bad that happened to them and how to be willing to connect with the good that came their way.
The high pitched voices of my executive teams’ spouses revisited my brain, “don’t let your kid’s lives become your own.” It really does take a village to raise a child but what we as adults forget is that we too keep growing every day, and it takes another village for us to evolve. My announcement to write a book and get it published and become successful was actually within my grasp—if Rosa’s classmate could see her dad do it, wasn’t there room on that New York Times best seller list for me? I picked up my phone and rang my brother to ask his permission to tell his story.
