Michael Vick was living the high life. He was one of the highest-paid players in the NFL because he could run the ball as well as he could throw, making him a versatile and dangerous quarterback. However, Vick's well-publicized series of bad decisions involving dogfighting has put a taint on his otherwise stupendous career. Every action has a reaction, and in this case Michael Vick's actions had serious consequences.

One who has no knowledge of Vick's stint with the law might see this picture as a cute dog trying to be a football player. However, this image has the potential to be very offending on many different levels. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a very active animal rights organization that was outraged by the dogfighting incident. A member of this group might see this picture as a downplay of the seriousness of what went on between Michael Vick and his group of dogs. Michael Vick admitted to personally executing dogs that didn't perform well in his dogfights, a situation that should not be joked about. This picture is somewhat creating a mockery out of what happened by showing the dog extracting vengeance on Vick, which might be depicted as funny to some. However, I feel that this picture is much more likely to invoke gasps and cringes than bouts of laughter. Michael Vick served 18 months in a prison cell for what he did. Jail and prison are two very different penitentiary systems; Vick was housed with murderers and rapists because of what he did. People jokingly say not to drop the soap in prison, but I pray that Michael Vick did not drop the soap during his 18 month visit. This image is also making a joke out of Vick's 18 month prison sentence, his mistake was a very grave one with very grave consequences that will haunt him for the rest of his life. He is fully reinstated and will be playing in his first NFL game in years in less than a week from today.

I can only hope that the world will not pass judgment on him for what he has done, for everyone makes mistakes. He deserves another chance, he has done his time. I know where I will be on September 27 at 1:00.

My mother has to be one of the strongest people I have ever met in my life. As I look around my big, beautiful house, filled with luxurious items that entail a lifetime of hard work, trials, and tribulations, I can't help but admire Deeadra Morrison. The success she has seen has been hard earned, and it hasn't come because she cannot hear or in spite of the fact that she cannot hear. Her deafness is merely a physical characteristic of Deeadra, like being tall or being short. However, her deafness has had a significant impact on her life and has helped her become who she is today.

Imagine not being able to hear. Actually try to envision what it would be like to live in a totally silent world at all hours of the day. You can't hear your baby crying, you can't hear the phone ringing, you can't hear the car behind you honking the horn, and music is completely out of the question.

"It really isn't that bad," Deeadra says. "It seems weird to me that everyone else can hear," she continues, with a laugh. The yellow leather couches that wrap around the elegant living room we are seated in are centered around a 60" plasma screen HDTV. The air smells of vanilla scented candles mixed with pot roast being cooked in the kitchen that sits adjacent to the living room. The sun setting over the mountainous horizon sets a great mood for a serious interview as rays of sunlight make their way into the living room, unimpeded by curtains. Deeadra sits directly across from me so we can sign across the room, her head held high, sporting work pants and an elegant feminine top. Deeadra was never a big woman, but always had a presence unparalleled by any woman I have ever met in my life.

Her mother was the same way, once she set her mind to a task she didn't stop until it was completely taken care of. "My mother had the shock of a lifetime when she found out I was deaf," Deeadra recalls. But my grandmother didn't abandon her, in fact it was quite the opposite. Grandma learned sign language, and learned it so well that she eventually became an interpreter for the deaf. "My mother really pushed me to be a good person and to work hard, she taught me so much. I know I wouldn't be where I am today if my mother wasn't there for me," Deeadra says, a proud smile etched across her face. Simply put, many deaf people cannot speak. Some make noises that resemble animals, some chatter unintelligibly, some stay completely silent, and still others can speak some English but mispronounce words or have a noticeable distortion in their voice.

Deeadra is one of the rare deaf people that can speak the english language flawlessly. "It was not an easy task, it was actually the most difficult thing I have ever had to do in my life," she says with a grimace. She described to me animatedly through sign language how her mother would play a game called "school" with her several times a day. Grandma would pick up a ball and say "this is a green ball." Then she would pass the ball to Deeadra, who would repeat verbatim what grandma said in English, sign language, and finger spelling. "She would also tell me when I was speaking too loudly, too softly, if i was making noise when I wasn't supposed to be, if my voice was too high or too deep... it was a complicated and tedious process that was very hard for me," Deeadra recants, "But it paid off in the long run and I'm glad I went through it," she concludes.

What people go through in their life helps define who they are and who they want to be. Going through something so profound as being deprived of one of your senses for an entire lifetime is enough to seriously impact who you become. I am proud that my mother is who she is today and I wouldn't have her any other way. When I asked her if she would gain her hearing back through magic if she could, her answer was "hell no."

Observing McDonald's

Immediately upon seating myself in McDonald's I notice the atmosphere about me is pure business. People are stopping in to get filled up fast, laughter and music fills the air, but they are bringing their work in with them.

A table nearby consists of several suit-and-tie businessmen who are completely absorbed by their respective laptops as they eat. This quick stop at McDonald's isn't a break for these entrepreneurs; merely a continuation of their workday, but a continuation in which they can enjoy some delicious modern day heart-stopping cheeseburgers. I can distinctly hear walkie-talkies chirping like a horde of crickets on a warm summer night, but no one seems to take any notice except me. It is absolutely impossible to ignore the excited chatter of both Spanish and English speaking workers coming from the kitchen, but once again this racket falls on deaf ears. The blissful looks on the faces all around me act as a symbol of McDonald's success; if their food really makes people close their eyes in sheer ecstasy while they eat as I witnessed on Thursday then they have earned their "Billions and Billions Served" signs that stubbornly hang in front of, quite possibly, a billion McDonalds's.

What makes McDonald's different? It is the epitome of a fast food restaurant, it is almost as if everyone else was in fast-forward as i took a leisurely thirty minute break to find out what it is like to really stop and smell the roses.

A night to remember

Childhood. Such a simple word, but it really means so much more than just being of a young age. To me, childhood is synonymous with innocence for many logical reasons, but is defined as such in my mind due to one overwhelming experience i had as a wee lad.

It was a summer just like any other, carefree to the point where i honestly considered legally changing my name to Tom Sawyer. I was doing whatever I wanted wherever and whenever I wanted. Our daily ritual that summer happened to be a game we called "night tag," which is pretty self-explanatory, but basically served to burn the boundless energy we had in the form of running in circles. I vividly remember one night that was especially muggy and humid. Running was really starting to tire me out, so i retreated to a fat little bush that was my secret hiding spot. This particular bush had a nice little section of it that didn't have any leaves, so it served as a little room for me to lie down and catch my breath. Laying on my back I could vaguely make out the beautiful starry night above me as the hot breeze rolling over my bare chest was starting to make me feel like i had been trapped in the desert with no water for days. I suddenly remembered a very important fact about man's best friend: when dogs are hot, their fur naturally sheds. This is the human equivalent to taking clothes off, and I thought that it was rather unfair that dogs could do this and I couldn't. Without a second thought, i got naked as fast as i could. Ah, that felt better, now I can play some serious night tag! I ran out to show my peers my birthday suit and was genuinely surprised when i was greeted with screams resembling that of someone being chased by a serial killer with a chainsaw. I wasn't even "it" but these people were running away from me as fast as they possibly could and were not looking back. I was quickly ushered by one of the mothers nearby into the house we were playing at, where i was made to wait in shame for my father to come and pick me up.

At a ripe nine years old, I didn't know what sex was. In fact, i still thought girls had cooties. Nevertheless, i learned a very important lesson that day: dogs have much better lives than humans.

"Live and Let Live"

If I had to create a bumper sticker that modeled my philosophy for life, it would be "Live and Let Live."

When i was a young boy, my brother and I got into an argument that simply couldn't be resolved amongst the two of us. Doing what any annoying kids would do, we decided that the only people who could mediate our argument were our parents. However, the problem we were arguing about had another problem inside itself: my brother wanted me to change my personality, change the person that I was, just to make him happy. My dad would have none of this, but didn't scorn my brother. He only told him to "Live and let live." Although i didn't fully comprehend what he meant at the time, it stuck in my memory like peanut butter.

The older and wiser i became, the more it dawned on me just how powerful that short statement is. If people truly lived their lives and let others live theirs, the world would be a more peaceful place. I have always been a very calm and mellow person, and I dont take well to people trying to force me to do things against my will. Like the great confucius once said, "Don't complain about the snow on your neighbor's roof when your own doorstep is unclean."