Oh Come All Ye Faithful
// December 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Football, General, Sports
The other night I agreed to be on a live podcast for someone who had been persistent, but nice about putting to use my desire to talk sports on the air. It was a fun opportunity to calm the nerves of the on-air talent over the latest Yankee trade and break down the Broncos deteriorating offense, but it was the very last question that I found myself contemplating long after the interview ended. I had been asked if it was time already to move on from the dog fighting scandal that had defined Michael Vick the past year, to give him the opportunity to continue on in life without carrying around this negative label.
Before the past few months I might have been quick to answer that with a rash judgment, to say actions speak louder than words and that no one deserves a second chance after choosing to hurt another living thing. But as time has gone by and assumptions have been made about who I am as a person by those far removed from my personal situation, I started to question if the greatest gift we could give to anyone who has been dealt a hard lesson learned is the simple gift of our faith.
When you divulge yourself into this idea of faith it’s easy to see that it isn’t so strictly cornered on the market by religious doctrine or spiritual shrines, but rather a concept existing and thriving in our everyday lives. Whether it’s faith in a new relationship to go the distance, faith in a career path to bring you future success, or simply faith that this year will be the winning year for your “always the bridesmaid never the bride” sports team, faith is an ever fluid characteristic of our very human nature. So why when presented with someone who has made blunders in life, but wants to reform, do we find it to be such a hard gift to give? Are we fearful that by placing our faith in others who have stumbled we will only find ourselves regretting our decision later when they fall back to their old pattern?
Or is it a matter of not wanting to stand behind something so unstable, so uncertain, so downright risky as the potential of another person to do well with their life and to learn from their mistakes that we’d feel safer leaving them to rot behind bars or at the very least so far from their former successful lives that we won’t be forced to chose between helping or hindering them? The sad part is that the easier option, to look the other way, to close the door on all opportunity, is more likely to put that person back into their former bad patterns as they give in to believing that that is simply their destiny. While the option of getting past our own insecurities and defending another by giving them the outward support, guidance and faith that they can and will succeed, puts the odds as much more likely to prevail, but at a much higher gamble.
Someone once asked me what good is a lesson learned in life if you never have a second chance. It’s a question that has stayed with me through the last few months and one I often find myself asking when those who once offered support now won’t return my phone calls. As the holidays roll in and many ponder their resolutions for next year I find myself most hopeful for new opportunities, opportunities to improve and better myself, opportunities that will only exist because of the faith of others.
Maybe this idea of faith is only viewed so fearfully because we make it into something bigger than itself, fearing we will have to invest time, energy, and so much of ourselves, when in reality all that is being asked for is an open mind and possibility. This simplified idea of faith is not lost on the Eagles, as Michael Vick’s teammates unanimously agreed to award him the Ed Block Courage award. Some may question whether he deserves it for the path he’s taken and the road he’s traveled to this point, but to me it’s not about the past, it’s an award given to say we have faith in you as a player and as a man that you CAN overcome, that you WILL better yourself, and prove yourself deserving of the world’s respect again. And that’s all the faith a person could ask for. So this holiday I hope we all take a cue from the Eagles’s playbook and learn to show a little faith and give it a little more freely. After all we’re all human, we all make mistakes, we all fall off the wagon, and we all deserve a chance, a little faith, that we will get back into the game of life and prove we’ve earned our place in the lineup.
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