Does HE deserve a Second Chance?

Does Michael Vick deserve a second chance?  This is a very hot topic with just about everyone stepping in to voice their opinion and I will add one more to the fray. As far as the law is concerned, he has paid his debt to society.   He served 23 months in jail for federal racketeering.  He plead not guilty on animal cruelty and that was washed away in a plea agreement.  So, no, I don’t think he recognizes or feels sorry for killing those dogs.  He is sorry he threw away his career; he is sorry he got caught and he is sorry that he was found guilty. Let’s not forget how vigorously he blamed others for what happened and for leading him astray while declaring his innocence.  One would think from reading the letter to the judge and listening to his constant denials the he had no ability to think for himself. No ability to understand right from wrong or know that he was breaking the law and not only that, he was causing willful and cruel destruction of life.

Michael Vick was one of the highest paid players in the NFL and he threw it all away. He was the golden boy with a golden life and when he was caught, he lied and denied for as long as he could until the evidence piling up became overwhelming and all of his co conspirators turned on him.

After mere months in jail, he has been reinstated to the NFL and has found a a team to support him.  While he should be employable as I hope all people can find gainful employment, returning him without penalty to a multimillion dollar career where he serves as a role model for young children is a mistake. A horrible and tragic mistake. He is not role model material and while there are quite a few criminals and miscreants in the NFL, it is disappointing none the less.

I don’t know many felons (outside of the NFL) that are allowed to return to multimillion dollar careers.  Most individuals who are found guilty of a felony have to spend a long time atoning for their sins.  They become pariah’s in the community.  They find it difficult to pick up where they left off and few people are willing to give a second chance for fear they will fall back into the same old pattern.  That is not inappropriate in this situation.  As far as the law is concerned, he has paid his dues but as far as his moral culpability and his deficiency in character, that requires a lifetime of atoning.  For those who think Michael Vick is being singled out, that is simply not the case. I believe that all thugs, criminals, and drug dealers should be expelled from the NFL.

I watched the interview on 60 minutes and I was not impressed.  He stated his commitment to working with the HSUS and using his influence to stop cruelty.  However, he did not truly accept responsibility for his actions.  His statements were clear.....  "I was disgusted, you know, because of what I let happen to those animals” he said. "I could've put a stop to it. I could've walked away from it. I could've shut the whole operation down."  All the while with a slight smile on his face and compassionless/expressionless eyes.

What Vick does not acknowledge and has never acknowledged, either in his letter to the judge prior to incarceration or his 60 Minutes Interview post release, is how he participated in these crimes.  In both instances he skirts responsibility citing that he should not have let it happen, not that he actively took part.  He didn’t just fund the operation from the sidelines.  He didn’t let it happen as a spectator or silent partner - he was an active participant.  He was physically involved in the electrocution, drowning, beating and hanging of dogs that didn’t make his team.  Electrocution by car battery while drowning in a swimming pool is a cruel and horrible death and does not happen quickly. He stood and watched while his dog struggled to get out of the pool while it was fighting to live. To truly atone for his behavior he needs to acknowledge his participation in these crimes. He needs to take ownership of what he did, he should say to the public that he physically slammed a dog into the ground until it was broken and dead and for that he is truly sorry.  And he should mean it.

I watched this interview more than once hoping that I could come up with some defense for him, hoping that I missed one spark of true emotion or apology but I didn’t. When he was asked when he truly realized what he had done was wrong and Vick responded with:

“The first day I walked into prison and they slammed that door, I knew the magnitude of the decisions that I made..." and, "What I did, being away from my family, letting so many people down, letting myself down, not being out on the football field, being in a prison bed, in a prison bunk, writing letters home. That wasn't my life. That wasn't the way that things were supposed to be."

It is all about him and what he is sorry he lost. Over and over he has acknowledged it was wrong but only in relation to what it took away from him, not the lives that were broken and lost.  He ‘now’ knows it was wrong but we’re not sure he understands why it was wrong.  I am not sure he truly grasps the horror that most people felt when they heard or read about how he and his friends killed dogs with their bare hands.  How much pain and terror those animals must have felt being killed by their owners after suffering abuse at their hands.  We are not sure he grasps that at all or really understands pain and suffering.  A dog’s capacity to love at times seems much greater than ours and their forgiveness is extraordinary.  The animals have probably forgiven him where we continue to debate…

There is one clip in the interview where it shows him speaking to children and encouraging them to love their animals - whatever animals they own. That appears to be the extent of his message.  He does not offer why. He does not offer that we should love and care for them because animals have the ability love and they feel and suffer when we are cruel.  And that life is valuable and should be cherished. That kindness is a gift.

If my opinion were solicited, I provide a resounding “NO”.  The American public does not need this kind of role model.  And as a spokes person for animal cruelty - a louder “NO”.  He does not speak for OUR breed and he should not be considered a positive influence. His decisions were not merely mistakes, they were a series of horrible decisions and a lifestyle of cruelty and suffering.  Six years of running a dog fighting operation  and systematically torturing and killing those dogs that didn’t fight hard enough or die in the pit is not simply a mistake.  A mistake is forgetting to mail a letter, not beating an animal to death. This is not simply one mistake but a long string of horrible decisions that potentially cite an inability to empathize with suffering, a lack of compassion and an outright disdain for life.  We have all read the few pieces of transcripts and evidence that was posted on the internet that explained in detail how the dogs were killed.  Pages and pages of documentation of terrible things that were done and done repeatedly if the dog didn’t die right away.  There is surely more that we were not privy.

He is not capable of spreading a compassionate message. He is not able to explain why we should care for our pets and treat them with kindness because he is not able to understand compassion for animals and kindness.  Certainly not while he himself does not understand and continues to skirt the responsibility of his actions. He has a deficiency in character that can not be fixed and certainly wasn’t fixed by 23 months in prison.  And will not be fixed as he is restored to his former glory without consequence.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Mahatma Gandhi”

**the photo is a dog rescued from an eastern NC animal shelter by Annabelle's Second Chance.  Whatever had befallen him prior to coming to the animal shelter involved a lack of nutrition and a serious altercation with another animal/ dog that broke his leg. He was placed in a new home after healing in 2004.  He was a wonderful example of the breed.