Ray Rice Rehabilitated: Do you have faith in humanity?

Ray Rice claimed to ESPN.com today that he was rehabilitated. Is he a changed man? The person who slugged his then-fiance, knocking her out, dragging her limp body out of the elevator-- all on video for the world to see-- claims to be rehabilitated. Your take? Your first reaction?

Before you judge, I have some questions for you:

Can people change?

Has anyone ever given you a second chance?

Is therapy maybe, just maybe, more effective than punishment for changing a person, and by extension, changing society? Can compassion ever trump punishment?

Is the NFL, perhaps, primarily a source of entertainment? It isn't presenting itself as the 700 club. (Did I just date myself?)

Have you ever done anything to a husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, child, parent that you regret? If you think back to your youth, are you relieved it wasn't documented on Instagram? On Twitter? On Facebook? (There is no online documentation of my unibrow, and that is a huge relief for me.)

Where do you stand on Ray Rice? Sure, he wasn't a hot-shi& running back when he Mike Tyson'ed his now-wife, but he was in the public eye. The media earned money off of his transgression, and his now-wife's pain. Limp. On the ground.

Before you judge. Can people change? Can Ray still perform on the field?

If your answers are "no," then Ray Rice can disappear into oblivion.

If you view the NFL as a fun way to pass your Sunday and not your personal cult of morality AND/OR, if you've ever made a mistake in your life and experienced, grace, forgiveness, and redemption, then I think the answer is clear: Ray deserves a second chance.

IF, however, certain transgressions are unforgivable; IF a mistake or deliberate act of evil and domination is indicative of some sort of deviant pathology that is beyond forgiveness, beyond redemption, beyond restoration; IF you think Ray Rice sucks as a running back and was a has-been at the time in his life that slugging his fiance seemed appropriate, natural, OK, excusable, justifiable, "personal," then, OK, he does not deserve a second chance in the NFL.

Where do you stand?

Discuss.