Last week, former superstar quarterback Michael Vick was conditionally reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after completing a 23-month sentence for bankrolling a dogfighting ring. The move clears the way for Vick, who at one time was the league’s highest paid player and most exciting signal caller for a return to the gridiron. For once, the NFL, or as it’s known in some circles, the “no fun league,” did the right thing. The man has paid his debt to society and deserves a second chance. Those who say he shouldn’t play again need to get a grip.
Everyone deserves a second chance and you know Alexander Pope’s saying, “to err is human, to forgive is divine,” Vick should be forgiven, ‘nuff said. We have criminally indicted and convicted felons serving as aldermen here in Chicago and former D.C. mayor Marion Barry did a bid on drug charges and he’s still involved in Capital politics. There are even entertainers who’ve committed vehicular homicides and they’ve all been allowed to resume their careers with little or no opposition. World Champion Laker Kobe Bryant went on trial for sexual assault and though he was exonerated, his star did lose some of its luster. However, since then he’s rebounded, acquired new endorsement deals and gone on to become one of the NBA’s top players. Michael Vick should be afforded the very same opportunity—to resume his pro football career and rebuild the lifestyle that was completely destroyed by his regrettable involvement in this blood sport.
At the heart of this case is the public obsession for caring more about animals than their fellow man. When President Obama swatted a fly during a recent television interview, PETA complained that his actions were cruel, and he should have acted more humanly to get rid of it. Give me a break! Flies are vile, disgusting, disease carrying pests and deserve to die. I realize that every living thing on God’s earth has a purpose and we all share a symbiotic relationship in one way or another, but some take things way too far. I’m not in any way suggesting that what Vick did was justifiable, but there’s no way he should have done that much time. Right now there are banking executives, legislators and countless others who through their reckless actions nearly sank this nation and the globe into a dank abyss that we may never rise from. These people are still walking the streets and most will never pay for what they did. Some were rewarded for their efforts even after being found responsible. Everyday there are men, women and most sadly, children who perish because they live in conditions that are less favorable than that of some animals.
If what Vick did is so incredulous, why aren’t these same detractors going after other obvious instances of animal cruelty. I don’t see anyone protesting the horseracing industry. Jockeys use whips to beat horses in order to make them run harder and faster. You mean to tell me that’s not cruel? The leather in the shoes on your feet comes from an animal. Though it may be a byproduct of the beef industry, it still means that some living creature gave its life for your fancy footwear. I’ve never heard of PETA complaining about mosquito abatement crews that spray breeding areas to destroy larva. And if they did, I sure bet the first time one of them takes ill and nearly dies after being bitten by one of those West Nile jokers they’d think twice. What about honey? Honey may be produced in hives that seem as if they don’t cause harm to the bees, but let’s think about it for a moment. The hive is the equivalent of an apartment building; it’s where the colony lives and works together. Honey is food cultivated to feed the inhabitants and the combs are their storage facilities. To harvest the sweet elixir, beekeepers use smoke to forcibly “evict” the bees from their homes and then steal their food. How would you feel if someone blew smoke up your butt, told you to get out and then took all the food you toiled so hard to provide for your family? Oh by the way, we’ll be back for more, so hurry up and get back to work. As silly as this may sound, the absurdity of some animal activists’ logic is closely related to this scenario.
I love animals as much as any normal person does, but I value human life far more. For me, being stung by a bee, wasp or similar creature could bring me to my knees or worse, due to allergies could prove fatal, so I avoid them at all costs. I’ve been bitten by two dogs, several spiders, and countless insects, cussed out by an evil parrot and nearly lost a few fingers to a blue crab while visiting family in D.C. If I’m ever faced with the choice of my life or a dogs, Fido’s going down baby, and if I’m ever attacked by some other wild beast and live, I will eat it, wear its skin and mount the head on my wall.
Vick deserves to get back in the game because he’s shown remorse and taken the necessary steps to move beyond this cheerless period in his life. He’s expressed his sentiment to Commissioner Goodell, and the president of the Humane Society of the United States. Still, there are some who’ll never forgive him for what he did and extremist members of PETA and other groups will undoubtedly protest any team that signs him. They’ll show up with giant images of tortured or maimed pitbulls and Vick’s likeness perched in effigy. I’d like to know where they get those images anyway; maybe I’ll ask them when I show up in a Hummer wearing a full-length chinchilla, a leather suit and boots while grilling a suckling pig.
I hope they like hot sauce.
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In photo: Michael Vick, left, and C.J. Reamon enter U.S. District Court in Newport News, Va., Friday, July 31, 2009. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank Santoro is scheduled to conduct a hearing Friday on Vick's revised plan to pay his creditors. (AP Photo/Daily Press, Adrin Snider)
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