OK - so I just got finished watching the video of Michael Vick's post-hearing press conference/public apology. Now, I am struggling with some of his comments.
This case has hit close to home for me because I am an Atlanta resident and a (sometimes obnoxious) fan of Atlanta sports. Granted, baseball is way more my thing than football ever will be, but I am a dyed-in-the-wool "root, root, root for the home team" kind of gal. I am also an animal lover, so this entire situation has been very hard to stomach.
I am also a Christian who (like most, I would imagine) wrestle with questions of faith pretty much on a daily basis. I am constantly working on building a closer relationship with God and I look to the teachings of Jesus Christ for the lessons he left to assist us in our daily struggles. I am overjoyed by the spreading of the Gospel, by new souls accepting His message and dedicating themselves to Christ.
Here's my problem - Michael Vick, in the midst of what almost sounded like a truly humble apology, decided to say that because of this situation he has "found Jesus and decided to turn his life over to God." If that is true, that is fantastic news! What I'm struggling with is believing the statement in the first place.
It seems like a basic PR tactic nowadays for celebrities to invoke the name of Jesus and claim to have found Him when they find themselves in the biggest mess they can imagine...Paris Hilton, anyone? True, God does some of His best work when folks are going through extremely difficult trials in life and many a soul has been converted as a result of weathering hard times. However, this is one of those times when the proclamation sounds blasphemous. If the Southern Christian Leadership Conference had plans to honor Vick and "recognize him as an outstanding human being," wouldn't you think that he supposedly already had a relationship with Jesus?
In fact, it may be the phrase "I found Jesus" that I have trouble with. Through it's misuse by less-than-genuine individuals, it holds about as much meaning for me as someone proclaiming that they are "a good Christian" as part of their defense against an accusation of wrongdoing. Why add "good" to the claim? Isn't it enough to be a Christian? Shouldn't simply proclaiming yourself a Christian signify the morals and beliefs that you live by? Apparently not.
I think that getting all of this off of my chest has led me to discover the source of what has been bothering me, and it goes deeper than Michael Vick. Christians of all denominations (myself included) need to start getting their message across in all methods available to them. Sadly, simply saying you are a Christian does not mean that you are a Christian. Too many self-aggrandizing hypocrites have "cried wolf" for anyone to simply take you at your word anymore. Unfortunately, this reality taints the message of anyone who evanglizes through words alone.
Every one of us needs to lead first by example. Dig deep into the lessons of Jesus Christ and pull out your "WWJD" bracelet if necessary, but do it. Don't tell everyone else to do it, or simply say you're going to do it. Pray about it and do it - find that strength and resolve and put your faith into action. All of us will stumble and fall, all of us will come up short, but we have no excuse for not trying.
As for Michael Vick, who prompted all of this self-analysis, I do hope that what he has claimed is true and that his actions will start to speak much louder than his words.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Vick had it all - except character (from AJC)
By Jeff Schultz Monday, August 20, 2007, 08:35 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He owned a team. He owned a city. He owned a league.
He spit on all of it. Everything and everyone.
This isn't a time for apologies, unless your name is Michael Vick. No excuses, no alibis. This didn't happen because of bad friends today or a bad family situation as a youth or the pursuit of some ravenous and misdirected and racist media.
An icon has just lost his freedom and possibly his career, and it's not because Michael Vick is a great guy who made one bad decision. He is flawed. Not a little, but deeply.
People of great character make bad decisions and rebound. They don't fund and operate an illegal operation whose primary functions are to fight and kill dogs. They don't go through life always deflecting blame on friends or family. They grow up. Michael Vick never grew up. He probably never felt he had to.
He is as wonderful an athlete as we've ever seen. But he was flawed on the field, the residual of poor work habits and laziness. He got away with it because coaches and surrounding yes-men let him, and all the money in the world apparently couldn't buy him a decent mirror.
He owned this town with his smile. But he was flawed off the field. So many people have said Vick is not a bad guy, but they miss the point. Somebody doesn't have to be a bad guy to do awful things. When somebody in a position of power is immature, arrogant and just plain stupid, it's a lethal combination.
He lied. Easy and often.
He lied to the owner of the franchise who gave him a $130 million contract and the platform to earn millions more. He lied to the commissioner of the most powerful sports empire on earth. He lied to you, the people who defended him and adored him and bought his jerseys.
He lied, probably because it worked before and he saw no reason to change. He thought he could skate. Why wouldn't he? It happened after the water bottle incident in Miami, which devolved into a great tap dance by Vick and the Falcons organization. Rather than show appreciation to authorities and accept that he got away lucky, Vick suggested the police tried to frame him. That didn't go over well in Miami or Flowery Branch.
He flipped off a crowd but figured people would forgive him quickly. Many didn't. He allegedly transmitted an STD to a woman, but he and his attorney didn't move quickly to bury the matter and settle the case, probably because he figured she would disappear. She didn't. The result was talk-show lampooning and what some in the Falcons' front office viewed as a permanent defect.
He lied about missing flights for testimony before Congress, incorrectly thinking that his endorsement company (AirTran) wouldn't throw him under the plane. Oops.
Nike. How do you become so tarnished that you lose Nike?
Vick seldom took the blame when things went wrong. But it was so easy to blame coaches, wasn't it? Dan Reeves. Jim Mora. Greg Knapp. Do you feel for them a little more today?
Such a wonder as an athlete.
Such a catastrophe as a leader.
So many people have wanted to make this about race and not the individual. ESPN recently explored Atlanta's racial divide on this and several issues, dating to the Civil Rights era. But in doing so, its Web site juxtaposed photos of Vick with the likes of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Ralph David Abernathy, as if they were somehow equals, either in morals or objectives.
Michael Vick and Martin Luther King - are you kidding?
"Not guilty," Vick said three weeks ago.
"I have a dream," King said, a week short of 44 years ago, "that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
This isn't the case of a person with great character jumping the track with one bad decision. A six-year operation does not constitute one bad decision. So many other incidents don't constitute one bad decision. Betraying those who trusted you, particularly owner Arthur Blank, does not constitute one bad decision.
We've seen great athletes throw away careers before. Drugs, spousal abuse, a general attitude of feeling above the law. We've never seen somebody blow so much over something so dumb. But all are symptoms of the same thing - serious defects.
Judge Michael Vick by the content of his character. And what he just spit on.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He owned a team. He owned a city. He owned a league.
He spit on all of it. Everything and everyone.
This isn't a time for apologies, unless your name is Michael Vick. No excuses, no alibis. This didn't happen because of bad friends today or a bad family situation as a youth or the pursuit of some ravenous and misdirected and racist media.
An icon has just lost his freedom and possibly his career, and it's not because Michael Vick is a great guy who made one bad decision. He is flawed. Not a little, but deeply.
People of great character make bad decisions and rebound. They don't fund and operate an illegal operation whose primary functions are to fight and kill dogs. They don't go through life always deflecting blame on friends or family. They grow up. Michael Vick never grew up. He probably never felt he had to.
He is as wonderful an athlete as we've ever seen. But he was flawed on the field, the residual of poor work habits and laziness. He got away with it because coaches and surrounding yes-men let him, and all the money in the world apparently couldn't buy him a decent mirror.
He owned this town with his smile. But he was flawed off the field. So many people have said Vick is not a bad guy, but they miss the point. Somebody doesn't have to be a bad guy to do awful things. When somebody in a position of power is immature, arrogant and just plain stupid, it's a lethal combination.
He lied. Easy and often.
He lied to the owner of the franchise who gave him a $130 million contract and the platform to earn millions more. He lied to the commissioner of the most powerful sports empire on earth. He lied to you, the people who defended him and adored him and bought his jerseys.
He lied, probably because it worked before and he saw no reason to change. He thought he could skate. Why wouldn't he? It happened after the water bottle incident in Miami, which devolved into a great tap dance by Vick and the Falcons organization. Rather than show appreciation to authorities and accept that he got away lucky, Vick suggested the police tried to frame him. That didn't go over well in Miami or Flowery Branch.
He flipped off a crowd but figured people would forgive him quickly. Many didn't. He allegedly transmitted an STD to a woman, but he and his attorney didn't move quickly to bury the matter and settle the case, probably because he figured she would disappear. She didn't. The result was talk-show lampooning and what some in the Falcons' front office viewed as a permanent defect.
He lied about missing flights for testimony before Congress, incorrectly thinking that his endorsement company (AirTran) wouldn't throw him under the plane. Oops.
Nike. How do you become so tarnished that you lose Nike?
Vick seldom took the blame when things went wrong. But it was so easy to blame coaches, wasn't it? Dan Reeves. Jim Mora. Greg Knapp. Do you feel for them a little more today?
Such a wonder as an athlete.
Such a catastrophe as a leader.
So many people have wanted to make this about race and not the individual. ESPN recently explored Atlanta's racial divide on this and several issues, dating to the Civil Rights era. But in doing so, its Web site juxtaposed photos of Vick with the likes of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Ralph David Abernathy, as if they were somehow equals, either in morals or objectives.
Michael Vick and Martin Luther King - are you kidding?
"Not guilty," Vick said three weeks ago.
"I have a dream," King said, a week short of 44 years ago, "that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
This isn't the case of a person with great character jumping the track with one bad decision. A six-year operation does not constitute one bad decision. So many other incidents don't constitute one bad decision. Betraying those who trusted you, particularly owner Arthur Blank, does not constitute one bad decision.
We've seen great athletes throw away careers before. Drugs, spousal abuse, a general attitude of feeling above the law. We've never seen somebody blow so much over something so dumb. But all are symptoms of the same thing - serious defects.
Judge Michael Vick by the content of his character. And what he just spit on.
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