Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, to NBC News.

[gawker.]

(via thedailywhat)

I’m not really sure how to handle this.

Full disclosure: I’m a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan and have been since I was born.  On the other hand, I’m a huge animal lover and actively participate in charities designed to establish no-kill animal shelters in my state, Pennsylvania.  Michael Vick is a profound challenge for my ethics.

One thing is clear: completing a prison sentence doesn’t erase your crimes.  Michael Vick did systematic, terrible things to dogs over the course of his life that honestly enrage me to think about.  I think he is only being offered any sort of public acceptance because he throws and runs well - because he’s winning on a football team.  A common dog-abuser that did the sort of things Michael Vick did would go in society’s permanent discard pile.  Is it only my fandom that begs me to forgive him?

I do believe that criminals should be forgiven for their crimes, eventually.  Prison is intended to punish and rehabilitate people who commit crimes.  I want to believe that Michael Vick can be a member of society again without being permanently branded.  That said, he took lives.  Not one; dozens.  And he took those lives in sadistic ways.  This is to say nothing of the dozens (probably hundreds) of additional animals that suffered greatly under his hand.

What I want to do is trust Michael Vick.  I want him to be an example for the community, especially where dogs are concerned.  More importantly, I want him to be an example for felons everywhere.  I want him to teach criminals - hard criminals who’ve committed unspeakable acts - that they’re able to be normal again, to rejoin society as human beings that underwent the change necessary to function.  To be accepted.

For Michael Vick to be a beacon of hope instead of a mark of shame, we need to be beacons of forgiveness.  We need to accept what he did, accept his punishment, and accept his attempts to re-enter society.  We must not be skeptical of his desire to be rehabilitated, to love animals like a normal person, to keep and care for animals like a parent should.  And we must parse this need out from our eagerness to look past the crimes of sports stars, athletes, and celebrities.  We must treat all criminals like we will treat Michael Vick.

I hope he gets a dog.  I hope he loves it like he should, like a father loves a child.  I hope that dog tours the country on his platform for change to jails and kennels.  And I hope other inmates see his example and understand that they, too, can one day be normal again without the everlasting judgement of society.  It’s an act of trust and faith on our part, to forgive.  We must put our faith in Michael Vick and trust that he is a better man for his horrific mistakes, a better man with the unique ability to raise others up as well.  

It churns my stomach to make that leap.  Others will not make it.  I understand and do not agree with them.

(via correlationstonone)

Prison is intended to punish and rehabilitate people who commit crimes.

Picking a nit. It is widely interpreted that Mistretta v. United States decided that prisons are not intended to rehabilitate.