Michael Vick Not In The Taliban

I really will never understand people. We are single-handedly God’s most diverse creation, able to do extraordinary things and accomplish amazing feats when we put our minds to something. We’re especially powerful when we combine our thoughts and ideas with others to cognitively conquer a problem. Unlike any other creation on the planet (for sure), and perhaps the universe, we possess the ability to reason, to think, to forecast and then, premeditate and act, using our efforts and physical attributes for good or evil.

But despite the magnificence of God’s creation, some people are just flat out stupid.

Michael Vick did a dumb, haness thing. Possessing the abilities far beyond a normal athlete, and despite being wealthier because of those abilities than virtually anyone who’ll read this post, Vick threw it all away on dogfighting.

Now, I’ve never been a dogfighter. I don’t understand the draw. I don’t know what would compel a person to fight dogs. Or torture dogs. Or drown dogs. Or hang dogs. I don’t get it.

But let’s call a spade a spade here. He committed a crime against animals. He was convicted. He was sentenced to 23 months in a federal prison. And perhaps worse yet, he was thrown on the rack of public scorn in the ever living game of public relations and political correctness.

But he did his time. His punishment is now over. And he’s returned to football. So I ask:

Mr. & Mrs. Protestor, what message are you sending inmates, humbled by their sentences who’ll one day re-enter society? “Return to your life of crime because we’re not going to treat you like a human and give you a second chance.”

Mr. Sports Commentator, do we have to hear you pontificate about how horrific Vick’s crimes were, grandstanding in the public eye…mic in-hand…insinuating on camera that you’re a better person because you’ve never gone down that road?

Mr. Politician, do we really care what your opinion is about Vick’s reinstatement to the NFL? You are all lying sacks of monkey poop, willing to say whatever the latest polls suggest will help you retain power.

Michael Vick killed some dogs. He did not endeavor to convert a commercial airliner into a missle in order to take thousands of lives on 9/11/01. He has never encouraged anyone to strap a bomb to himself and detonate it in a crowded cafe. He has never taken anyone hostage then on camera behead them after they read a political statement.

And yet we are treating him as though he has. Why? Because we’re people. And because we’re cowards. We naturally gravitate toward opportunities to prop ourselves up, whispering in our own ears that we’re better people because we would never do what he did. We throw stones at easy targets, regardless if those targets are remorseful, even if their remorse had to come as a result of incarceration.

But a larger problem exists out there that we don’t want to deal with. If you want proof, find the protestors that are outraged that we’re setting people free in Guantanamo Bay who would gladly do things that make drowning a dog look like swatting a gnat.

Vick served 18 months on a 23 month sentence in a federal prison, then served an additional two months in home confinement. Best I can tell, he spent approximately 550 nights in the pen. You better believe, maybe about night 139, when he laid his head on his bunk in his bright orange jump suit, he remembered what he had lost. And maybe for the first time, he considered what he had done. And maybe, just maybe, he understood, possibly for the first time, that he was no better than the animals that he had killed. And it was time to change. And maybe, just maybe, he did.

The man killed some dogs, people. The man served his time. The man is not Osama Bin Laden. Move on.