Overcoming Our Own Worst Mistakes
There’s a story in football that goes all the way back to 1929. Roy Riegels of Cal picked up a fumble and nearly returned the ball to the endzone … for the opposing team. He had to be tackled by a teammate and earned the nickname “Wrong Way Riegels.” He was so distraught that his coach had to talk him into returning to the game.
Scoring for your opponent is unforgivable for fans. We lay our dreams at the feet of kids playing a game and suffer meltdowns when mistakes are made. Similar to Riegels, Kaelin Clay of the University of Utah caught a pass across the middle in a game against Oregon. The speedster sprinted 70 yards to the endzone. But in a premature celebration, he let the ball fall from his hands, just inches from the goal line. The ball was scooped up by Oregon’s Joe Walker, who ran the length of the field for a touchdown.
But, unlike Riegels, Kaelin Clay gathered himself quickly, took responsibility for the blunder and finished the game with several key catches that set up scores. It wasn’t enough. Clay will candidly tell you that the loss to Oregon was his fault. Still, he learned from it.
“Life is crazy,” Clay says. “Things change. That moment right there helped me realize that no matter what happens, just keep pushing, because something good will happen in the end.”
Might not be the correct forum for this one but, once on the Sex Offender Registry in Florida, for the most part you are on it for life.
Could a condition be for people under the age of 80.
Once you reach the age of 80, chances are no one would actually do anything illegal pertaining to sex. Couldn’t some politician have enough compassion for the elderly offenders.
Just a thought.
The football players made a mistake. Sex offenders made a choice.
In the examples above, the players made a mistake of judgement. I would contend that it is no different with most sexual offenses. To boil it down to a simple matter of making a choice to commit crime shows that one fundamentally does not understand the issue and cannot intelligently speak on it.
@Anon
Epstein’s victims also made a “choice” to be massage therapists on his island. Your point?
It’s fair to say Epstein‘s victims were manipulated, coerced, and worse.
Although it is true that registrants made a choice, your perspective is rather simplistic. Virtually everyone on the registry made some choice or made a mistake which resulted in a criminal conviction. It is also true that they paid for their mistake/choice in the criminal justice system.
The registry is not part of that punishment. I’m not aware of any criminal statute that specifies registration as potential punishment for a crime. Imprisonment and fines are most commonly specified as retribution. Although not considered punishment by most courts, the registry is indeed punishing, and applied long after a debt to society has been paid in full.
I’ll use a contemporary example to illustrate the absurdity of your “choices” argument. Today there are many people who choose to not be vaccinated or to wear masks. That choice can have negative consequences for the person, for those around him, and for society at large. Would you suggest that being put behind the vaccinated for treatment should be a result of that choice? Except for the fact that person can spread the virus and harm others, his decision could just be considered as natural selection in action.
Do you subscribe to that thesis? If not, why would you summarily dismiss the non-judicial punishment of the registry as simply a consequence of a bad choice?
Veritas.
You’ve made choices, too, but we don’t spend the rest of your life reminding you of them.
Tired your on the right page and in the right advocacy site. Yes we all make mistakes. And yes ignorance is blessed. you can even find that out in scripture. But standing up for justice is always the right thing to do. Sure many can look at this registry as a tightrope, but strength in numbers is always good to combat evil. Yes one would be surprised what a little with righteousness can do.
Sure its not always easy to rebuke mankind but in many measures one has to fight for truth and justice. Their is safety in numbers and one has to look at Justice or government as an eyesore and even a blind man can see that.
Great inspiring article!! We need to put aside the lost plays and fight to win the game.!!
Thanks for reminding us. It is easy to get frustrated and give up. But those that win are those that keep playing to the end.
See I made a mistake, there is nothing bliss or blessed with a sexual type defrauding.
Now I was given a plea deal in VA. While their is strength in numbers don’t we all make mistakes, even judges, DA’s, and even many in the justice dept. If a mistake can be corrected I have to applaud Florida and this effort and many other states as Truth is always a better way.
When is the government going to admit to fumbling the Constitution and violating civil as well as human rights at home and abroad. I’ll wait… with a thick book.