Forgive or forget, Michael Vick has earned the right to be forgiven

Once upon a time, Michael Vick was lighting up the league while playing with the Atlanta Falcons, now there are people who want to act like he never existed.

Michael Vick was back in the news this weekend after the NFL announced that he would be one of four captains for the 2020 Pro Bowl. There is currently a petition circulating with more than four thousand signatures demanding that the NFL rescind this honor.

At the turn of the century, Michael Vick was one of the catalysts for the resurgence of the Atlanta Falcons. Making dazzling play after dazzling play, Vick was starting to break the mold of what it meant to be a successful quarterback in the NFL.

Later on, during his tenure with the Falcons, Vick got into some trouble with the law due to being involved with a dogfighting ring in which he was sentenced to 21 months in prison and put his successful career on hold.

There is a difference between forgiveness and forgetting something happened. No one should ever forget what Michael Vick was convicted of, but its time for forgiveness to take place. Mike paid his debt to society and paid back every monetary fine and debt he had. Instead of taking the easy way out, Mike took responsibility for his evil actions, which many do not.

It is now 2019 and yet people still hold on to what Vick has done. He is one of the many NFL players that have gotten in trouble in the law, but yet his name gets brought up more than anyone else’s?

In 2009, Donté Stallworth struck and killed a pedestrian while speeding and it was later found out that he was under the influence of alcohol and received a sentence that was a fraction of what Vick got.

Hall of Famer and a player that’s regarded as probably the best player of all time Lawrence Taylor was charged with having sex with a minor and received six years of probation but no one makes a sound about it.

Animal cruelty is a big problem in this country but is it time that we forgive Vick for his transgressions? He did his time, almost lost his career and came back to be a great person and football player.

He became an advocate after these troubles supporting laws that help prevent this type of thing from happening and supporting maximum punishment for those that do commit this crime.

Yes, what he did was wrong, but there is no reason why people should continue to bring this up and shame his name especially those who are fans of the Falcons.

Vick was responsible for putting this team back on the map after the Falcons magical 1998 season and that should not be forgotten because he made a mistake.

I don’t condone any type of cruelty to animals or anything of that nature but it’s been more than a decade since all of this happened and it’s time for people to let it go.