Michael Vick Receives Ed Block Courage Award

The award is presented to players who show a commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage. Vick was selected unanimously by his teammates.

"I'm very humbled to be here," Vick said before the award ceremony. "I'm blessed to be voted by my peers, to be here, and this is an opportunity that I will take advantage of and cherish forever."

This is the first award Vick has received since being reinstated in September 2009.

Vick ran the wildcat offense for the Philadelphia Eagles and completed six of 13 passes for 86 yards and one touchdown

This is a major problem I have with the media and American culture in general. I myself have never broken the law, even had a traffic ticket. I’ve never treid drugs, smoking, or alcohol. I know there are millions of others just like me, and we are made fun of or ignored. However if some lowlife makes a small gesture to turn his life around we treat him like some kind of brave hero.

A friend from church had said something very similar. He wondered aloud how he, who had been a Christian since childhood, who had lived a quiet and good life, didn't have a "testimony" that was considered as exciting or as noteworthy as that of a fellow who had been converted and who had previously led a life of blatant sin and degradation.

I have been saying for a long time that America is plagued by inappropriate role models. It’s no surprise the American ship is going down when kids are constantly barraged with images of people like Micheal Vick living like royalty despite their criminal lifestyles. You have to inject race into this too because black people want to blame white people for the disparity in white prisoners versus black prisoners in this country but when you see their role models, is it really all that surprising? Micheal Vick and people like him are a blight on American society for sure but they’re bordering on a demonic curse for the African American population. They of all people should reject this man.

I certainly understand the sentiment here, but at the risk of being flamed to crispy carbon I'm going to offer a different viewpoint.

First, it is noteworthy that EVERY Eagle voted for Vick to get this award. These are the guys that were with him every day throughout the season. Michael Vick claims he is a changed person and evidently every last one of his teammates believe it.

Now was there someone else on the team that was perhaps more worthy? Someone who year in and year out is an upstanding citizen? Probably so; however, are you an upstanding person to be recognized? Or do you do it simply because it's the right thing to do?

I would pose a similar question to your church friend. Are you being a good Christian to get praise and recognition from your church peers? Or are you doing it to be pleasing to God?

This situation is somewhat similar to several parables in the Bible. You have the prodigal son who blew his inheritance on a life of debauchery, crawled home, and was treated as a returning hero by his father. You have the parable of the shephard leaving his flock to find the 1 lost sheep and overjoyed at finding it, despite the fact that the animal was no more valuable than the other 99. You have the vineyard owner who paid the same to the workers who only toiled part of the day as he did to those who worked the entire day.

Do those situations seem "fair"? It may not seem like it, but this is evidently the attitude that God has toward those who return to the "flock" or show up late; otherwise, I'm not sure what the point of those parables is.

I certainly don't condone bad behavior, but by all accounts Vick is a changed man. He paid his debt to society and has been very humble. He has gone to high schools around the country and said plainly "don't be stupid like I was". He's working, staying out of trouble, and being a good role model. I'm not sure what else he can do other than keep doing it.

Finally, I wonder what the attitude of those on the forum would be if Vick were now an out-spoken conservative. I think the comments might be a tad different.

Maybe I'm completely off base here, but I just wanted to offer another perspective.

Hard to take as it is, your observations and biblical comparisons are correct. C.S. Lewis points out that one of the most insidious invasions that Satan can make is to generate pride in virtue. The saved are saved, regardless of whether they lived their entire life virtuously, or none of it. St Paul took glee in the stoning of Christians before he saw the light, and St Augustine lived a life of debauchery before he saw the light. Christian history is riddled with similar tales.

What vick did was horribly disgusting. If he has genuinely repented and changed then God bless him. However, only God knows that for sure.

What you describe and the Vick situation are quite different.

Seems a bit of envy on the part of the one who led the quiet Christian life, not at all unlike what we see in the parable of the prodigal son.

” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’

– (Luke 15:31-32, NIV)

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