The Baltimore Ravens Understand The Power of Forgiveness. America Should Follow Suit.

Modern-day America only accepts perfection. We don't tolerate anything less. It's a shame. Forgiveness is the wise path to take if we want to conquer our nation's demons.

On Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens celebrated the career of retired running back Ray Rice, making him the team's "Legend of the Game." Although many applauded the celebration, many more scrutinized it.

The former second-round pick had an eventful six-year NFL career: Super Bowl champion in 2012, two-time All-Pro, three-time Pro Bowler, and an indefinite suspension in 2014 that, for all intents and purposes, ended his career.

Before the beginning of the 2014 season, TMZ leaked video footage of Rice knocking his fiancée, Janay Palmer, unconscious and dragging her body out of a hotel elevator. He was suspended by the NFL and released by the Ravens. There was so much uproar that the Ravens held a jersey buyback program where fans could trade their Ray Rice jersey for another item. President Barack Obama even issued a statement. No team signed him when Rice's suspension was lifted later that year.

Since then, Rice appears to have turned his life around. He regularly speaks to high school, college, and NFL players about the importance of good decision-making. He donates to charities aimed at helping victims of domestic abuse. He married Janay and they had two children. 

Yet, for some sports fans, it's not good enough.

Type "Ray Rice" in the search bar on X. You will see an endless list of insults, replays of the elevator video, and false equivalencies. "What are the Ravens going to do next? Name an elevator after him?" "If the NFL can celebrate Ray Rice, then what about Ricky Williams? What about Deshaun Watson? What about Colin Kaepernick?"

One of the most notable critiques comes from Mike Freeman. A left-wing activist masquerading as a sports journalist, Freeman often stokes racial division to compensate for his lack of captivating writing. His recent piece for USA Today accuses the Baltimore Ravens of "whitewashing" Ray Rice's history. He insinuates Rice should not be forgiven, "Maybe he's not the same person but, again, none of that changes what happened in that elevator, and you just don't honor someone who did that as a team legend."

Ray Rice does deserve forgiveness. Everyone deserves forgiveness if they are willing to repent for their mistakes. Ray Rice certainly has.

Mike Freeman doesn't strike me as someone who is even remotely interested in the Bible. Who knows. He probably thinks it is a relic of white supremacy or something. But if he was, he would understand that forgiveness is one of the core tenets of biblical teaching. Matthew 6:14 reads, "For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well." 

A lack of forgiveness can explain black American's lack of gratitude toward the country.

Black Americans refuse to forgive the only country they would willingly live in because of slavery over two hundred years ago. America has provided blacks the most safety, material wealth, and upward mobility than any nation on Earth. Orlando Patterson, a black Harvard professor and sociologist, once wrote, "[America] is now the least racist white-majority society in the world; has a better record of legal protection of minorities than any other society, white or black; offers more opportunities to a greater number of black persons than any other society, including all of those of Africa!"

When the soul lacks forgiveness, it becomes filled with anger and hostility. Anger turns into gang violence and crime in the streets of Baltimore. It turns into violent BLM and pro-Palestine riots in Chicago. White liberals encourage the madness because many of them have unaddressed mental health issues. Their perceived virtue distracts them from their lack of gratitude, humbleness, and forgiveness.

Gratitude, humility, and the willingness to forgive made this country great. Grateful for being in a free and relatively safe nation. Humbled knowing that we are image-bearers of The Most High God. Willing to forgive the sins of previous generations and strive to prevent those wrongs from happening again.

Lack of forgiveness has corrupted conservatives, as well. In the wake of pro-Palestine movements on college campuses, some right-wing pundits have discussed placing students who participate in pro-Palestine activities on permanent black lists, thus affecting their career opportunities and earning potential for the rest of their lives. Commentator Candace Owens pushed back, realizing it would not achieve the desired goal. "If that's your belief then go for it," she tweeted on X. "But my instincts tell me that what I am seeing in terms of calls to ban speech, shut down student groups, and create black lists is going to have the opposite desired effect." Putting these students on black lists would be like dumping jet fuel on a California forest fire. It would embolden their protests because they could make a martyr of themselves.

Today, people seem to live in a vacuum of their own narcissism and forget they, too, were young and made mistakes. At some point, someone, somewhere, forgave them and allowed them the space to mature. When did we become too good to forgive? Who appointed us the gatekeepers of forgiveness and repentance?

Perfection is the enemy of great. If we do not humble ourselves and learn to forgive those willing to repent, we will never be a great nation again.