Are We products of Our Environment or Products of Our Expectations?

           Are we products of our environment or are we products of our expectations? I believe we are somehow both. Our environment and expectations both play a part in how we end up as people.

          Wes Moore, an author, entrepreneur, and United States Army veteran believes we are only products of our expectations. In some ways I agree with him. Some people do turn out to be exactly what was expected of them. Whether it be the expectations they had for themselves or what someone else expected them to be. Also, whether the expectations were good or bad, those expectations can shape who we are. 

         The expectations that people have of us can sometimes become the expectations that we have for ourselves. For example, if someone constantly tells a young boy that he will grow up to be nothing, the boy might very well grow up believing that he will not amount to anything. If a young boy constantly gets praised by his parents and told he will grow up to achieve major things, the boy will grow up believing he will be successful. It’s like “they already think of me this way so that is what I will be.” High expectations or low expectations can rub off on a person. Even though they are just words, good or bad, words can stick with you and have a huge impact on how a person carries themselves. 

         Looking at my own life I believe I was more so a product of my expectations rather than a product of my environment. Growing up in Newark, NJ if you know, this is one of the toughest cities in the United States. From kids my age getting murdered by other kids my age to drugs and gang violence in every neighborhood it would be easy to get wrapped up into the wrong type of situations. Especially if you go to school with people who are involved in those kinds of things a person might find it hard to stray away from things like that. I know so many young men I grew up with who became a product of our rough environment. Even the ones who grew up with loving and respectable parents, they still became who they are. 

         I could have easily chosen not to take school seriously and go down the “wrong” path. However, my parents, specifically my father, always expressed their expectations of me. They always expected me to be a great student and end up a successful young lady. Eventually those expectations became the same ones I had set for myself. It grew on me, it became second nature.

          I believe it is very difficult to separate the two. As humans we can either be products of our environment or products of our expectations. Sometimes it might feel impossible to not be a product of your environment if you are not surrounding yourself with the right people who can make you forget where you are. However, I feel like if we start having higher expectations for ourselves and expressing the high expectations for the people we have around us, that would help everyone be a little better in life.