He's Sorry

He's Sorry

Well, then, ok. Let's forget all about it and just pretend it never happened. Pete Rose betting on baseball, that is.

"For the last 14 years I've consistently heard the statement: 'If Pete Rose came clean, all would be forgiven.' Well, I've done what you've asked. The rest is up to the commissioner and the big umpire in the sky."

Well, Pete . . . don't believe everything you hear.

People think that just because someone admits wrongdoing, it shoud be forgiven and forgotten.

Bull Spit.

Being sorry and admitting your wrongdoing means you get to BEGIN the process of TRYING to earn forgiveness.

NEWSFLASH: THIS PROCESS MAY NEVER END.

Too many people think that absolution is (and should be) automatic. Well, it's not. It is a process by which you make amends for you past misdeeds. Making amends means doing something active to fix what you did wrong. To repair the pain you caused others. To replace what you took or broke or damaged.

By starting this process you show yourself to be something better than the person you were when you committed the act. But that does not mean that those hurt by your actions must or even should forgive you, let alone honor you.

Pete, you may someday get into the HoF. . . but not now. And not until you do something to make amends.

SI.com - Magazine - Rose: I bet on baseball - Monday January 5, 2004 2:54PM