"..Around April 2007, Vick and two associates killed six to eight underperforming dogs by various methods, including hanging and drowning." Philly.com
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Some jackass will say that I do not love Michael Vick because I am a racist. Fine. Have at it.
Actually, I believe in redemption and salvation for sinners. Michael Vick is a sinner in a profound sense of the word.
What he did to those helpless animals is beyond my personal ability to forgive. Nevertheless, we are called to forgive the penitent. He seems to be penitent.
Someone will ask if I am penitent. Yes, but not for anything most would imagine.
Vick should be given a chance to demonstrate his renewed life. pl
amen
Maybe I’ve grown too comfortable in my cynicism, but I fear the operative word in your comments is most likely “seems”. What is evident in our recent history is that, given their ample and well paid occasions to practice, high end PR firms have made a fine art of public penitence and their lost lamb clients don’t regret the price of the service.
Hope all has been well with you, Pat…
Pitch
If anyone can preach the Gospel to Michael and speak of penitence and redemption, it would be Tony Dungy. I hope that both are successful.
I wished Vick had gotten 25 years, but the fact is the law in the state in which he was prosecuted was pretty lean.
I hope he takes his conviction seriously, which he appears to have done.
I hope he learns to love dogs, which I expect will never happen.
If we want more, we will have to change the law. We live in a democracy. That’s how it works. Annoying, irritating, etc. If you don’t like it get a better system. Don’t pretend we don’t live in a democracy,because our reps are definitely watching the polls.
Michael Vick does seem penitent, maybe it’s just because he lost his livelyhood. I don’t know. I believe in redemption also and could bring up Raskolnikov again but won’t. I do think Vick working with the Humane Society will do more to discourage those who are likely to fight and abuse dogs from doing so in the future. Being a role model who got busted and publicly repented, he will do more good in the long run than a thousand converted unknowns, our culture being celebrity fueled.
I know there are some who think it is absurd and childish to feel compassion for a dog or for any animal besides the human. As if compassion is a finite resource not to be wasted on another species. Just the opposite is true–the more you exercise your compassion, the more you allow yourself to feel love, the stronger it becomes and the more it encompasses. Animal lovers are some of the friendliest people I know.
God blesses all creatures great and small.
I find him a disgusting human being also, however maybe he will be able to reach others and be a positive role model. One can only hope.
Credit for the last line of my previous post goes to that wonderful story teller James Herriot, who I think got it from the Bible. I took my previous dog to The Blessing of the Animals, a ceremony performed by the Catholic Church. Well worth the effort to go to.
$1.6M could buy a lot of contrition. A lot of people will make money from his rehabilitation. The increased audience for his first game (people tuning in for the spectacle) will generate much more than that in ad revenue, won’t it?** Truly it is written: there is no such thing as bad publicity.
By way of the ongoing media-managed national depravity pageant, how much was Dick Cheney’s book advance? I realize he did not need the money, but he was asking for $2M and can find no mention of how much was paid by what publisher.
** perhaps I overestimate. Does anybody know a rule of thumb to estimate advertising rates per minute as a function of audience size?
Well, many of the muthaf***ers in the country where I’m residin’ do the same c*** as well, somethin’ ’bout dogs bein’ unholy in their religion… Some people.
I’m a lifelong NY Giants fan (since the days of Y.A. Tittle), but I always had a grudging respect for the Philadelphia Eagles under Andy Reid. Not so much, now.
How could Andy Reid, the Eagles coach, fail to give Vick a second chance? Reid’s druggy sons got them.
Rather than prison, Vick should have been sentenced to walking the dogs of Florida State’s football coaching staff on the FSU campus 18 hours a day.
I say, let him play, my girlfriend says “absolutely not”.
Time will tell,actions speak louder than words,talk is silver silence is golden.That is all.
Some of my redneck neighbors have been caught several times and got a fine and probation. And, it didn’t cost them $150M, bankruptcy and two years out of the prime of their careers. This may not have been because they were white, it was because they weren’t famous…, except, of course, in the Southern Dog Fighting Leagues… 😉
I do however agree somewhat with the public relations comment. When I realized Eric Dezenhall was involved, I knew Mike would be back. Eric has “rehabilitated” many much worse Corporate criminals in his time.
I’m very glad you said what you did Col. Thanks.
Cheers,
Mike Adams
Had Michael Vick been a world class garbage collector instead of a quarterback as an ex-felon it is highly unlikely he would get hired by the Philadelphia Eagles to take out the garbage.
Very timely given Senator Webb’s sponsoring of The National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009. Will our society give the same opportunities to the rest of the penitent ex-felons in America?
He’s millions in debt, he has to play football.
Actually we’re not just called to forgive the penitent, but to forgive everyone, penitent or not.
“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
(Matthew 5:44-45)
I’m just sayin’. . .
There is a BIG difference between forgivness and a huge NFL contract.
Forgivness does not equal payday.
Optimax, the quote you’re looking for comes from a hymn, one which gave Herriot the titles of several books. Here’s the chorus:
All things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful:
the Lord God made them all.
Satirized by Monty Python:
All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.
Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom.
He made their horrid wings.
Ian,
Thank you. I’m not familiar with the hymn but have read most of Herriot’s books and every once in while watch episodes of “All Creatures Great and Small” on Netflix instant watch.
The Monty Python satire is hilarious, makes me want to re-watch some of their stuff.