Shipmate

A few days ago someone asked me why I was such good friends with a particular individual. I responded that the particular individual is a shipmate.

Shipmates understand that while we may not be close, we may not be best of friends, we understand that we are a brotherhood/sisterhood of individuals who have come together for a common purpose/goal. We understand that we will support each other, and if we must, take over and continue the mission. We have a bond that even our darkest enemies can’t break.

Shipmates know that it’s not about the individual; it’s about a team working together to accomplish the mission. Shipmates know that change of command will take place.  Shipmates know that if one person is holding the team back we must either work to bring them up to speed or cut them loose.

I struggle with knowing the greyhound community is willing to prop up an individual who committed first degree sexual assault crimes against two young girls.

Some in the community insist the individual has paid their debt to society. That term is hogwash. It only means the person served time in jail/prison.  The two young girls, ages 5 and 7 at the time of the molestation, will always be victims until they draw their last breath. They will never be able to remove “victim” from their life. Their life has been forever damaged and the memories of being violated will never wash away. Should the perpetrator be allowed to wash their name clean of the label of “convicted child molester” when the victims will forever be haunted by the violations done to them?

It is time for the greyhound community to be a shipmate and cut loose those whose crimes will bring harm. It is time for the greyhound community to be a shipmate and stop placing those with a criminal past in positions of trust. It is time for the greyhound community to be a shipmate and no longer be enablers.

Perhaps it is time to reflect and ask yourself what type of misconduct was done and to whom that caused others in the greyhound community and outside the greyhound community to dig deeper into the past of an individual.

Perhaps it is time to reflect and ask yourself what you are willing to risk by swearing your support of a convicted child molester you honestly know nothing about.

Perhaps it is time to reflect and ask yourself is it right for an individual to use greyhounds as a prop to wash away their sins.

The only damage that will come to the greyhound community is damage from accepting and celebrating individuals such as this. The damage can be controlled by removing the sore from our community. Those that make the choice to stand by and with these individuals are enabling them to classify their crimes as irrelevant and render the innocent victims trivial and inconsequential.

To those young girls and to those who have received veiled threats or experienced misconduct and felt the need to dig a little deeper– I will be your shipmate!

Not often do I preach but when I do, I have a message.

Today’s message is about forgiveness. 

When God grants forgiveness to a person seeking redemption, that individual must first repent and then change their heart. A person may continually point out the good they have done, seeking to sway others of their "goodness" yet if a heart is still as dark as it was the day two little innocent children were molested, God has not forgiven.

When the facts are documented truth via court records as to the actions of an individual and those facts are flippantly dismissed as gossip and innuendo by the individual, is that not an indication that the individual is untroubled by their crimes?

Acts of charity should be from the heart and done so without expecting anything in return. Charity done to convince others that a heart is not dark and a litany of charity is put before the public by the individual to garner praise and acceptance is not charity done by a repentant heart.

It seems the “God card" has been played too often over the years by many trying to hide the truth, performing charity to convince the public of goodness yet knowing full well the work done was accomplished by the financial donations of others.

Just for the record, a particular convicted child molester not only molested one girl 6 times, he molested another little girl while out on bond. The charges? First-degree sexual assault where the molestation took place includes sexual contact or intercourse without consent by threat or use of a dangerous weapon or what the victim reasonably believes is a dangerous weapon: and sexual contact or intercourse aided or abetted by one or more persons using threat of force or violence.

Before you take it upon yourself to bless an individual or if you think God posts a list of those he has forgiven on a chat board that we can all reference back to, perhaps you should be wondering what physical and psychological damage the 5 and 7 year old children have had to survive due to someone you perceive to be so amazing, so wonderful, so unselfish.

I only have one question - Exactly what makes convicted child molester acceptable to you?

***Note of importance – Not a single person that I know of  has advocated the ending of, ripping apart of any event – what is advocated is the removal of a person who is convicted of first degree sexual assault on two young girls. No person of this caliber should be in a position of group or event leadership – positions that unknowing families with children may look up to and trust because of the position!***