Redemption or Bust!

"Lord, allow me to be a testimony of your grace and mercy?"

Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress spent nearly two years in prison on a weapons possession charge. Now he's out of jail and ready to get back to work. On Wednesday he is scheduled to sit down with his former coach Tom Coughlin.

"I really don't know what I'm going to say," Burress told the newspaper about Wednesday's meeting. "I'm just going to go in there tomorrow and speak from the heart, be truthful with him and let him know how I feel. Whatever comes out is going to come out. I'm pretty sure there are things he wants to say, too."

I hope that Plaxico has matured as a result of this whole fiasco and has moved on. Sometimes in life God puts us through difficult situations just to wake us up. Before Plaxico went to jail he was in fact the problem child in New York. Always showing up to work late, not being very diligent, continuously having run-in's with Coughlin etc.

Sometimes people take for granted the blessings they have daily as if they are in entitled to them. We see that occurring everyday on our jobs. The unemployment rate is through the roof and we still see co-workers showing up late, half doing their assignments, taking more than the allotted time for breaks etc. Then they have the nerve to get upset when they're called out or written up by their manager.

I just hope Plax was paying attention to Michael Vick last year the way he came back and took care of his business. Mike put the blinders on and did what he should have done from jump. Now it's Plaxico's turn to show that the last two years weren't a complete waste.

Whether you agree with the conviction or not is irrelevant. He wasn't using sound judgment in having a gun on him in the first place. A guy with that type of “scratch” should have had a bodyguard if he felt the need to have protection. I grew up in the hood and I realize that guys carry for the same reason's that Plax thought that he had to. However, Plax wasn't living in the hood and shouldn't have been involved in the foolishness that requires a knuckle head to carry a gun. Most importantly, he didn’t need to be at that club if he felt threatened.

If you're not in involved in the lifestyle that creates an environment that makes it necessary for you to have a gun there isn't a reason to have it. I know that guys are targets that have a lot of money. However, you're only a target if you're "fladging"(showing off) in circles where people have a lot less money than you or simply no money at all relative to you. You can’t show up to the club with $100,000 worth of jewelry and most of the folks there only make $10,000 to $50,000 a year. You’re supposed to get hit over the head.

Now Plax has to learn how to hang out with family and friends or when he goes out, go to more exclusive parties. Straight up! That's real talk! Redemption is going to depend on how well he understands that concept. He's not the average guy. So he can't hang out in average places and put the same type of threat on his life that the average brother in the hood does.

I can't do that and I'm just a working class guy that supports his family. Once you move into different levels of maturity you've got to change your level of friendships, acquaintances and hot spots.

I hope Plaxico get's picked up and proves not only to himself that he's a better man as a result of the two year bid but also to the world.

I say it all of the time and I'll keep saying it, "God is a God of second chances", even when you do stupid things like shoot yourself with your own gun.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter: @jaygravesreport