The Club

Michael Vick wants a dog. This could easily be a comment taken out of context by the media sharks circiling the USS Vick, but let us assume for a minute that it is the truth. Everybody now knows that Mike went to prison for eighteen months for his involvement in a rather large and cruel dog fighting ring. He admitted his guilt, lost his high profile job and went to prison. For many this would be the end of the story and they would disappear into the anonymity most of us enjoy. But he chose to try to get his job back and re-enter the limelight and wealth he previously enjoyed. Get out the microscope.

It is the price paid for fame, and it can be expensive. In modern times one must assume at all times he is being photographed. I don't think you can buy a cellphone that doesn't also function as a camera so if you are getting in a cab you better be wearing underwear. But it must be worth it because we create new "media darlings" everyday. We build them up to super human status, follow and record their every move and ultimately watch many crash and burn. Become human again. Sounds expensive to me.

Somehow I have gotten off track of Mike Vick wanting a dog. I'm glad he wants a dog. Humans love dogs. The unconditional love that a dog offers is like no other. I love my cats but it's not the same. I have heard many people say "I love your cat, he acts like a dog". Unlike a cat, a dog only wants to be vice president. He wants to be your body guard and publicist.

"Letting Vick have a dog is like letting a child molester work at a daycare". I heard this on the news last week. I hope this is not true, and I don't think it is. I think it is the perfect time to enlighten him. I think it is the perfect time to let him join the club I have been a member of most of my life. I never knew I loved children until a nurse handed me my own. Granted I had never abused a child before, but I had also never really looked at one either. Other people's children were cute, but they were just things. They were shoes and coffee tables. Just things. I was allowed to join the club with no experience and I'm glad I accepted the invitation.

Let's give Michael Vick a chance to be a member of this club. Let him enjoy the love of a dog that is his own. He doesn't deserve this because he is a famous professional athelete, he deserves this because he is a human being. Maybe deserve is not the right word. Maybe he doesn't deserve anything for what he has done. But the benefits he will recieve from the love of a dog will out weigh the risk. I'm willing to take the chance. If he is not a changed man, he will be when the nurse hands him the baby.

We don't live in a perfect world. People do terrible things to each other everyday. Varying opinions of God give people free reign to treat each other in the most inhuman of ways. Skin color alone has probably caused more deaths than all diseases combined. Somewhere we have to draw a line. We have to understand that while there are many small clubs, they are all a part of a much larger one. The main club. The home office. The human race.