Stop forgiving

Recently I was personally asked to support a Wolfpack basketball player who is going through rehab for a severe spinal cord injury. I decided not to send money to his rehab fund. Why talk publicly about that? Because the details matter.

When news of this player’s injury was announced, I was flamed on StateFans for saying that the details of what happened to him mattered when deciding whether to support his rehab fund. I understand the principle of forgiveness and I do wish the family well, but I can’t support someone who got into a car and drove while impaired. I was accused of being judgmental, throwing stones, etc. But I feel compelled to argue again that someone has to stand up and say no when asked to support something that goes against what I consider a fundamental ethical, moral issue. Getting in a car when you are too drunk to drive it is a choice that puts hundreds of people at risk of death–whole families and communities, and not all of them are basketball players with people cheering for their sincere athletic efforts. And I can’t reward that behavior even if it means not helping someone who is injured, because this behavior has to cease.

I sincerely regret and feel sorry for what happened to this man and I know his friends and family are doing everything they can to help him. He’s lucky. But we have to be vigilant in changing our world, and changing our standards in the name of forgiveness is not the way to do it. In North Carolina we continually put people who are charged with DWI back on the road, over and over again. On average, a first-time DWI offender has driven drunk 87 times before he was arrested.

Get the facts straight and stop talking about forgiveness. Start stopping drunk driving.