By: Brett Casserly
Is it possible for the National Football League to just “forgive and forget” a child abuser? Sometimes forgiveness can benefit more people than we actually know. Adrian Peterson has made national news for his child abuse scandal where he beat his four year old son to the point of scarring. The NFL suspended Peterson indefinitely, while charges were to be brought up in court. The main topic of discussion is if he should be reinstated and allowed to play in the NFL. He admits to beating his son with a wooden stick to discipline him and a plea bargain was reached on November 4th. Peterson’s punishment included two years of probation, a $4,000 fine and 80 hours of community service, half of which will be taken care of by a public service announcement.
For many it is impossible to forgive a man who beats his son to control him. In today’s society it is completely unacceptable to abuse your children no matter their actions. Scientists have found that even spanking, the most widely accepted and alleged form of punishment, has alarmingly negative consequences for childhood development. According to multiple articles, spanking can increase a child’s risk of aggression, antisocial behavior, and mental health disorders later in life. It slows down brain development and decreases language skills. Spanking may not leave outward signs of injury, but the mental scars that it inflicts can last a lifetime. There is no place in football and society for actions like these and never should they be seen as ok or acceptable. The NFL has made it clear that they will not tolerate such actions and they have suspended him indefinitely. Whether or not Peterson is reinstated his image will always be tainted with this scandal and he can never escape it.
Peterson has made mistakes but I am sure all of us wish we had a second chance at some point in our life. Never can you justify the actions he took against his son but the realization is that he was beaten the same as a child. His story can be used as an example to show people the devastations of child abuse. Instead of turning away from the issue it should be faced head on with him as the leader. In 2007, Michael Vick was implicated in a dog fighting scandal and was not only suspended by the league but was convicted and imprisoned for 23 months. Vick was given another chance from the NFL and even though he could never fixed his tainted image, he has tried to do well. He is a leader in the fight against animal abuse and has raised a lot of awareness for the issue that not many people knew about before. Since 2007, over 40 laws, whether state or federal, have been upgraded or put into place to make the punishment for animal abuse more severe. Peterson realizes that what he did was wrong and if he had any form of good will he could make a difference in the fight against child abuse. There is not a single law in the United States against spanking your child and 19 states still allow corporal punishment in schools. Pushing his story to the side and throwing him out of the NFL to fix their image may seem like the reasonable thing to do but Peterson has the ability to stop this from happening to another player or person by raising awareness to the rest of the country that child abuse is a big issue in the United States that needs to be dealt with.
Pushing away the issue child abuse and punishing Peterson will not necessarily solve the problem. The sad part is that what he did does not seem wrong to some people and that it is ok to abuse your child if he is misbehaving. Peterson’s story can be used to positively affect the lives of many even though what he did was unjustifiable. It is not about punishing Peterson individually for his actions; it is about trying to end child abuse for the good of the United States and the rest of the world.
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