Michael Vick is sorry he was involved with illegal dog fighting, and now can feel how ugly and cruel his actions were to dogs. It's hard to believe that it took him not the involvement with bloodied, tortured, dying dogs, nor his jail time, but communication and bonding with animal lovers who were in pain because of his actions.
I think what he wrote about his transformation is sincere. I didn't see his interview, only read about it. When I had heard about his case and indictment, I remember I shook my head and made an under-my-breath-kind-of-that's- so-sad statement, and got on with my day.
But today, hearing about Vick and his life reminded me of the moment I learned about dog fighting.
I was 11 years old and we lived in an apartment complex that my sister used to call "Peyton Place." It was the first time I had ever heard the word divorce and learned of the concept of children born out of wedlock. The owner of the building was named Elsie. She was a divorced woman in her late 40's, I imagine. She had a son named Lee, and he was also divorced. Lee was a good looking, hip talking womanizer. There were about 5 other teenage girls in our apartment building and we all had crushes on him. He had a bulldog that strutted along with him from his sports car, up the stairs, and across the 2nd floor balcony. He was proud of that dog.
We loved Lee so we loved that dog.
I seem to remember Lee mentioning dog fights, but never saw any proof that that dog had ever been in a fight. He was a nice doggy, as far as I was concerned. And then one day, Lee came home holding his dog in his arms wrapped in a bloody towel.
What happened? We all wanted to know.
Lee could barely speak. He mumbled something about the dog fights. I looked at the trembling dog with the bloody wounds on his face and sides, and with wide eyed amazement asked, "Why did you let him fight?" He couldn't answer. He was humbled and broken.
Eventually, his dog healed and Lee moved.
Hopefully, like the Vick of today, he felt the pain he caused to his dog, and never let that dog, or any dog, fight again.
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Saw the interview and it never occurred to me until i heard him say it that he didn't realize that dog fighting was wrong since that's what he grew up around/with. Weird that he never realized, but maybe he never had a dog to snuggle with during thunderstorms when he was scared as a kid, or when someone hurt his feelings, etc...
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