Does a second chance help or harm?
@lordwarwizard (35747)
Singapore
December 14, 2007 10:45pm CST
Obama takes took drugs? Hillary's aide quit because he mentioned it? Well to be honest, I have not been following the U.S. politics scene. That oba-boy took drugs is somewhat new to me. But the last I heard, he was running for the post of Mr. President and standing quite a fair chance. Yes, no doubt he has publicly acknowledged the "folly of youth" and "should" be given a second chance, but are we too liberal in giving second chances here?
I have nothing against him and I am really addressing the situation in general - that of giving others a second chance. LONG AGO, second chances were rarer than rare. If you make a mistake, you are condemned - including everyone associated with you. Slowly, the stigma dissipated to be replaced by the glorious "second chance". You made a mistake, ok fine, just admit it and move on. Let's focus on the BIG mistakes here. If you make a BIG mistake, ok fine, we still give you a second chance.
This is all good. After all, we are none of us saints and "infallible" is not the Word of the Day. Today, we give others a second chance. Come another day, we might need others to give us a second chance. This is all so very good. However, is this second chance "fool-proof"? What sort of signal are we sending? That we can feel free to make BIG mistakes and still get a second go? That any kid on the street should grow up on dope and alcohol then decide to run for President?
I really don't know, my friends. There are lots of merits to giving second chances. I just hope that people will not take advantage of this goodness and think they can atomic-bomb a place for fun and still be welcomed with open arms - with a second chance.
What are your thoughts on this? Does a second chance help or harm? Do share. =)
9 people like this
18 responses
@slickcut (8141)
• United States
15 Dec 07
I really do not know of anyone that has not made mistakes in their youth.We all must learn from our mistakes.Some people do learn and others do not.I am a firm beleiver in giving a person a second chance to clean up their lives and make it better.I have given people in my life second and third chances,sometimes it works ,sometime no.I do believe in the second chance though.If a person is really sincere and they have a second chance they will usually clean up and do the right thing,if they are sincere that is.I don't think it is right to dog a person the rest of their life for the mistakes they have made in their youth, if that were the case we would never rise above our mistakes ans we would not have the will to push toward a better goal in life.
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
17 Dec 07
I guess there is "no harm trying" (to give another second chance).
@jeb083079 (839)
• Philippines
15 Dec 07
We have done it in the Philippines, in fact, our current so-called "president" who admitted her mistake is still the current so-called "president". Cheating is a form of mistake, isn't it? Remember? the "hello garci" thing? So why not with other international politicians. Just imagine the impact (if there is an impact) on our youth today. A candidate can cheat because he or she can be forgiven. All he or she has to do is say "I'm Sorry" on tv. Does "her" second chance is helping the country now? I don't think so. The people are still suffering especially with the increase of human rights violation. Anyways, that's just my view.
2 people like this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
17 Dec 07
Sometimes politics at some place disgust me. Leaders should be virtuous, no?
@sigma77 (5383)
• United States
15 Dec 07
I don't much folow the political scene and have no opinion about Obama one way or the other. But, this country is built on this kind of thing. Person screws up big time, is faced with incredible odds going against them, fights through tidal wave after tidal wave of disaster, then finally overcomes and is crowned a hero and the audience stands up and claps till their hands are breaking off. This is life in America or the world for that matter. The person who grows up straight and narrow doesn't stand a chance against our bumbling hero-type who falls deep in the gutter of major-mistakedom and rises from the ashes to become the conquering hero. You see this in movies, books, and biographies, to name a few, all the time. We are taught to cheer loudest for the biggest screw-up who fall the deepest and rises to unimaginable heights. Moral: The person who makes the biggest mistakes and then reverses their lives and rises to great esteem is the winner and is loved and seen as the hero. The person who never falls too far and lives a life of goodness, for the most part, is seen as boring and unbelievable because they didn't do enough wrong to have to overcome, survive and conquer. They didn't need a second chance and sometimes that makes them seem too perfect. JMHO.
2 people like this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
15 Dec 07
Because there is a little screw-up in each of us.:P
1 person likes this
@jarves (814)
• Philippines
15 Dec 07
I believe in second chances. Second chances are there to correct mistakes. Or to redo what ever things that you disliked that happened before. It is an opportunity for you to do the things you have never done. It really depends on how you view second chances, so it depends on the situation.
@poohgal (6845)
• Singapore
17 Dec 07
Most people love to have the Second Chance. Not all of us deserve it. We are not in the position to judge who is deserving and who is not. Only the Holy One up there is in that position.
After making a mistake, not everyone is given the Second Chance. Even if a person is given a Second Chance, he may not want it as he feels too guilty or ashamed to face life or people. Hence, if there's ever a Second Chance, we should just grab it and make things better for ourselves and others.
I think there's more good than bad in giving people a Second Chance. You mentioned none of us is infallible. This is indeed true. We all make mistakes - big or small. Life is not about not making mistakes. Life is a learning process; it's about learning from our mistakes and not making them again. True repentance is to admit our wrong and never to do it again. If we were to admit our wrongs and kept making the same old wrongs again and again, that's not true repentance. Such people will eventually run out of Second Chances.
Second Chance by its own nature does more good than bad. The main problem lies with the person granted with the Second Chance. Whether it helps or harms depends largely on the recipient of the Second Chance.
1 person likes this
@spiritwolf52 (2300)
•
16 Dec 07
Well, considering the one in the big house now drank in his past, I guess voters are in for giving people a second chance. It really depends on whether or not the problem is in the past or still on going. People may be willing to give a second chance, but people don't forget. They have long memories. Some people would just wait for the chance of saying I told you so, if the person slips up again.
1 person likes this
@ethanmama (1745)
• Philippines
18 Dec 07
This is a pretty gray area to me. I think that people DO deserve a second chance, generally, especially if the first offense was borne out of misinformation, ignorance, and if he realizes that what he did is really bad and does not do it again. (Kind of like parents trying to discipline kids.)
However, there ARE a lot of people who screw up on their second chances. Even if they now know better, they still don't attempt to better themselves by not repeating mistakes of the past.
I really have no opinion on Obama, and since I'm not a US citizen, I won't be voting in the US elections anyway....but if the "folly of youth" is simply just that and he has not repeated his mistakes, then I say do give him a second chance.
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
22 Dec 07
It's hard to decide the "cause". Many people think they are doing no wrong when they are doing supposedly "wrong" things.:P
@beaniegdi (1964)
•
15 Dec 07
I do agree that people should be allowed a second chance but also that it does depend on what the first transgression actually was. Like the example you use of the atomic bomb, if someone commited mass murder then it would hard for anyone to want to give that person a seond chance. However to say that sone one who commits an indiscretion during their youth should then be excluded from public service when in their mature adult hood would be a waste of talent. Lot's of people do things when they are young and in most cases should not be punished all their lives for it.
1 person likes this
@whyaskq (7523)
• Singapore
16 Dec 07
If the person has truly repent and really turn over a new leaf, he deserves a second chance. The issue is only how to qualify him. I do not condemn a person for one mistake he make, no matter how grave. If it is only a folly in his youth, his track record from that mistake till today plays a part. However, he can never go beyond a third chance should he fails again. I will condemn him forever especially if he were to run for Presidency. So far, no one has broken my firm stand that a leopard never change its spots.
1 person likes this
@ahgong (10064)
• Singapore
26 Dec 07
Well, I guess it really depends on the offense committed to determine if some one deserves a second chance or not, doesn't it?
It also depends on the person who committed the offense. If he/she is truly repentant, there may be a slight chance that a second chance will make him/her re-look at life and do better.
On the other hand, there are also people who just cannot bring themselves to appreciate the second chance they are given. In fact, some even go to the extend that they make things worse for themselves and the people around them as well.
Depending on the situation, a second chance in most cases does help rather than harm. There are many instances of such second chances given and these people made it better than before cos they treasure the second chance that was given to them.
But if the second chance allows the person to get away without learning anything from the situation in the first place, then that would be doing more harm than good.
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
28 Dec 07
Who is to judge?
Who is to know what is right or wrong?
:PPP
@nkhanna (922)
• India
19 Dec 07
well i think giving a second chance is fair enough but but...not to all.there are some mistakes which are done unknowingly or innocently and people while doing so do not have that much thought to think the adversity of that mistakes,i guess to those people giving a second chance is ok.but people who know what they are doing but still if they are doing so then they should be punished and not forgiven.if that would be the case then even many who crimes for the first time should be released.as its said that ignorance is bliss.only those who are innocent should be given a second chance so that they dont commit the same mistake twice.
1 person likes this
@colourless (245)
• China
30 Jan 08
I do think that a second chance is somewhat generous to others ,however ,one must have his own principle, right? For me ,I will never give a little returning space for those who has hurt me so deeply , my friends, for example. Yes, I admit that i was taught to be generous towards others ,but i really can't bear a friend's betrayal to me ,for i so believe that since there is the first time he or she conceives me ther would absolutely the second chance .
@34momma (13882)
• United States
28 Dec 07
i think must good people have all been giving second chances. i am not going to hold someone smoking some weed as a young kid against them as an adult. when you know that someone is a good person trying to do the right thing, then giving them a second chance to make it right is what we should do. i am not only talking about obama i am talking about all of should get a second chance, because if we don't make mistakes we will never learn any lessons worth change us and our lives
1 person likes this
@Impervious (1147)
• United States
19 Dec 07
Ya know the guy smoked some weed and did a few lines and partied in college. How many of us have some skeletons in our own closet. As far as I am concerned I could care less. Furthermore it fall into the same category of who Bill Clinton screwed Are we to spend billions more on this.
1 person likes this
@dianagnes (1088)
• Singapore
18 Dec 07
Sometimes it does help for second chance,sometimes it harm too if we take for granted the chance given..hehe!
