J.C. WATTS Advertisement

I don't know if I'm sick or tired, or just sick and tired of Michael Vick drama.

I've been flabbergasted at all the hoopla the past two years over Vick and his dog fighting ring.

I've been a dog owner, and I think dog fighting is despicable, but how I wish and pray that people would be just as indignant at how despicable it is when people take the life of an unborn child.

I've read with great interest all the things people have been saying about Vick, and I just can't rationalize in my mind how people can say things about Vick killing dogs, but turn a blind eye and deaf ear to losing a child.

If we can be upset that Vick killed dogs, why not outrage over doctors killing babies?

Many have said that Vick should not get another chance to make millions in the NFL, but so few protest millionaire doctors who kill babies.

I've heard that Vick should not have his career back, because he committed heinous crimes with his own hands (drowning dogs, electrocuting dogs, brutally beating dogs...), but some doctors commit the brutality of partial birth abortions with specific utensils in their own hands.

Why to some is it wrong to kill dogs, yet not at least as bad to kill innocent human lives?

A Fox News anchor recently called Vick "barbaric." I understood her outrage and frustration, but how I hoped that she would have encompassed abortion in her anger as well.

Vick committed a felony, was found guilty, was sentenced, and served his time in prison. While I totally disagree with his ring-leading efforts in dog fighting, he has paid some of his debt to society. Our system of justice affords us the opportunity for redemption and to make good on our debts as adjudicated by the courts and society.

Tony Dungy, the respected former NFL coach, stepped down from coaching for the expressed purpose of involving himself in the lives of lost and hurting men. Coach Dungy is committed to impacting our culture in this manner. He took on the challenge of a lifetime when he agreed to walk this journey with Vick.

"I talked to him (Vick) about where he wanted to go in the future," Dungy recently said. "That's one of the things my dad always used to say to me when he was alive. 'Don't worry about where you are so much. What are you going to do to make it better?' And that's what I kept asking Mike. 'Where are you going to go from here?'

Are Tony Dungy and I defending Vick's abhorrent actions? Of course not. I'm merely shining a light on the inconsistency in the arguments to condemn his actions while ignoring a greater atrocity.

A spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said, "PETA and millions of decent football fans around the world are disappointed that the Philadelphia Eagles decided to sign a guy who hung dogs from trees, electrocuted them with jumper cables, and held them under water."

Come on PETA, couldn't you at least give the unborn babies a shout out in your outrage? We can talk about how cruel it is for animals to suffer in meat packing plants and medical research laboratories, but what about unborn children getting slaughtered on cold tables behind closed doors in medical facilities by professionals who took an oath to preserve life?

One Hollywood type said, "If Vick returns to his true form as an NFL pro, that platform can mean real progress for the animal rights movement."

Vick can be a part of whatever movement he desires. But I pray if he tells kids it's bad to kill dogs, have the guts to say, "it's bad to abort innocent, helpless, unborn babies."

It's easy to make Vick look like a three-headed monster for what he did, but as the same Hollywood type said, "to ban him and cast him aside and simply hate him, knowing that someone in his position stands potentially ready to effectively serve the interests of the very group of individuals that he most offended would be a mistake.

"Especially when there are enterprises operating in this country that will torture and kill more animals than a thousand Vicks ever could. But you can not buy a ticket to watch them perform their jobs on a Sunday afternoon."

Could we not make the same statement concerning the unborn?

In paying his debt to society, Vick does have a responsibility to the youth in America to speak to what happens when bad choices are made. That encompasses both being reprehensible with dogs and killing innocent children in cold blood.

J.C. Watts is chairman of J.C. Watts Companies, a business consulting group. He is former chairman of the Republican Conference of the U.S. House, where he served as an Oklahoma representative from 1995 to 2002. His e-mail address is JCWatts01@jcwatts.com