As we approach the fourth anniversary of the discovery of a dogfighting operation on property owned by Mike Vick in rural Virginia, Vick says that, based on where he is today, he would change nothing about his past.
“I’m happy that I turned out to be the person I am, and I wouldn’t change anything about my life if I could,” Vick told the Wall Street Journal, via the Philadelphia Daily News. “As crazy as this may sound, going to prison really changed my life. I was able to go in and come out with a plan.”
We think we understand what he’s saying. But we’re not sure he understands the import of his words.
Yes, he perhaps needed to go to prison to really change his life, since he was inclined to listen to no one before doing time. Still, to say he wouldn’t change anything about his life could be interpreted as a lack of genuine remorse for the things he did that put him in prison.
It’s a Machiavellian view of his life experiences, the equivalent of saying, “Yeah, I did some really bad things and, yeah, I paid a really big price for it, but since I like where I am now and I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t gone through all that, then I’m OK with the things I did.”
Even though he says he wouldn’t undo the things he did if he could, he realizes that some will never forgive him for the things he did. Even though he thinks they should.
“At some point I think you let bygones be bygones,” he said. “I think some people will never forget. Some people will. But I think that’s just the reality of the situation I created for myself.”
The situation that he wouldn’t change if he could.
Of all the adjectives that have been used over the years to describe Vick, perhaps the most accurate is the most simple: Selfish. Based on the things he told the Wall Street Journal, that’s one thing about his life that possibly hasn’t changed. And that possibly never will.
Still, selfish and law-abiding is a whole lot better than selfish and dogfighting.