Not sure how widely publicized this will be, so I’m putting it here in case anyone’s interested.
You can see Vick doesn’t exactly want to say “the environment I grew up in made me do this” because, I would argue, he probably believes the majority of people won’t be sympathetic of this idea.
However, I believe they should be - I feel that it’s the truth.
I’m not sure what harm there is in listening to Vick’s apology and allowing him the opportunity to function again in society. This, after all, is the point of the penal system. Reformation and, hopefully, redemption.
Despite what appears to be a large outcry against this tact, as a country I believe we should at least give him - and everyone else like him, famous or not - the chance to emerge from a series of horrible actions and transform into a positive force.
I am not, in all honesty, a big believer in the idea that people change. I think a very small percentage of us actually do. Short term change is one thing - say you cheat on your wife, you feel horrible about it, you pledge to never do it again - but that’s not the real test, the real challenge is how you feel as time goes on and the memory of the pain you caused fades away. We all try to be better people, I think, yet as human beings we’re never flawless.
If Vick can have an impact on the kids who are growing up in the kinds of environments he came from, the ones he alludes to, then there’s at least a chance that the awful dogfighting racket he was a part of may, with time, lead to a positive overall net gain for society.
I for one hope to see it happen.
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