Vick’s returning to the NFL after his admission to, conviction for and two-year imprisonment for dog fighting has been the topic of conversations among not only sports fans recently, but the general news watching public at large.
Much of the comment has been very much against a Vick return to football. Critics of Vick and numerous animal rights activists have been very vocal in their opinions that his crimes were so severe that he should never be allowed to play the game of football professionally again. They say that he is a disgrace to put before young fans and that there is no place in professional sports for him.
But what message would really have been sent had their opinions been followed? What would it have said about America’s ideas on justice and redemption?
In America, the principle of rule of law, rather than rule of mob or majority, has been the stalwart preserving our democracy for its two-hundred and thirty-three year history. The idea that a man or woman who commits a crime, either by will or by ignorance, pays their debt to society by serving time in prison, paying fines and penalties, doing community service work or a combination of these and then, after doing so, is returned to society is one which has been a given since the beginning of the nation.
When people have “paid the debt”, it then follows that they must not only become a returned part of our society, but they must become a meaningful contributor to society. In order to do that, they have to be able to use their skills and ability to provide for themselves and be self-sufficient. If a person thus returned is not allowed to use his skills in a lawfully correct manner to make a living, his chances of a successful return is severely hampered, if not impossible.
Michael Vick is no different than anyone else. He has served his court-appointed punishment and has lost more financially than most of us will ever know. He has lost the admiration of millions of fans who will never think of him the same way again.
Unless.
If Vick is given a chance, like any other rehabilitated former inmate, to make a living and to use his skills, who knows what the final history of Michael Vick might be? He is no different than an electrician or a carpenter who has been in prison. He has a certain set of skills at which he excels and can make a living using. Michael Vick can be a working, contributing member of society. Who’s to say that a rehabilitated Vick can’t use a second NFL career to highlight to young people the perils of making wrong choices, thus supplying them with the idea that they live in a land where rehabilitation and remorse offer the promise of redemption, forgiveness and renewed opportunity.
No one will argue that what Vick did in relation to the unfortunate dogs in the dog-fighting operation was anything but cruel and unthinkable. But it’s hard to argue that he, like any other man or woman, shouldn’t be given a second chance to show he’s learned to be a better person. After all, we’re all human, make mistakes and do wrongs. Pencils have erasers for a reason – not just to make them pretty.
Yeah… Vick deserves a second chance. If he uses it to be a better person and a better public example, then we’re all better off. Paraphrasing the greatest example of forgiveness the world has ever known…those of us who have never done a wrong have the right to cast stones.
What’s that sound you hear about now? It should be our collective stones falling to the ground as we are in no position to throw them at Michael Vick…or anyone else.
That’s how I see it from the other side of the desk. See ya down the road!
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