On forgiveness, 2nd chances, and Michael Vick
I'm an animal lover. My family loves animals. Over the past 7 years we've rescued 16 or so animals. We don't like dog fighting; in fact, one of the dogs we rehabilitated and rescued was a beagle/basset-hound mix that was dumped in the alley behind our house along with the litter he fathered. Based upon his missing teeth, torn ear, and food aggressiveness we realized he was a "bait dog" used to train other fighting dogs to be more aggressive.
When the news about Michael Vick broke we were all stunned and horrified upon the initial findings, a kid who had it all, a star quarterback, invested in something so violent and back-woods to most of us. Football fans were enraged, animal lovers were enraged, racists even had new fodder they could construe.
Michael Vick's world unraveled from that point forward. He just about lost it all. He was prohibited from his career for 2 years. He was in jail for 18 months. He lost his homes.
So that's the history.
One of the traits that makes us human is compassion. The same compassion that allows my wife and I to take in flea-ridden rug-staining fuzzballs is the same compassion that fuels the ability for us to give second chances to people. We give our children second chances. We give our friends second chances. We give our family second chances. We give our co-workers and our bosses second chances a lot of the time, too. We give many prisoners second chances, whether rapists or murderers or thieves. And regardless who the person is we all stand awestruck and are happily impressed when that individual exceeds expectations. We're all happy that a former thief is able to hold a job and fit into society, we're happy our boss stood up for us in front of corporate management even though he was oddly silent on the other conference call we had, and we're all smiles when a co-worker remembers to provide the documents we need to finish the job without constant haranguing.
So when it comes to Michael Vick I'm troubled by the hypocrisy of many individuals and groups who proclaim compassion or have compassion as a part of their ethos, and fail to give him, a human, the same second chances that they profess to believe in. I firmly believe if he screws up again he should get the book thrown at him, but the facts are is that he served time, likely more time than the average person serves for similar crimes, if they're even caught and convicted at all. He's suffered public humiliation, the loss of his possessions, and was sidelined (literally) from what should be the prime of his career.
For many, this doesn't make up for his despicable actions, and honestly, even for me, nothing ever will. But denying someone the chance to be a productive member of society, after they have served their debt to society as dictated by our laws, goes against the whole structure of our society. Part of the premise of why our society is so great is that we, as humans, can grow and change for the better.
We don't have to root for the Eagles (why would anyone root for the Eagles?) but as humans I think we all should root for Michael Vick to use his stature to show that people can grow and change.
You don't have to like giving people second chances, but that is what we, as humans, do.
