I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. Second chances open the doors that were slammed shut by a person’s abrupt actions. Re-opening this door allows the remorse to flow on its own like the free-writes in my English class. Giving him or her a second chance lets them learn from their mistakes. For instance, my father, who’s been a struggling alcoholic his entire life, left my family and I five years ago. Before he left, most of his nights consisted of coming home late because he had a “meeting”, at the bar that is. My parents split about a year before he left because it was just too much to bear after 14 years for my mom. Distraught and searching for answers, we were all experiencing mixed emotions of anger, fear, and confusion. It took us about six months before we came to the realization that he was really gone, and we were angry. The anger was our frustration in a different form: we were afraid that he was gone for good. He was a great man; he just had a disease. My mom, my sister, and I had no idea if we’d ever see him again.

As 2009 arrived, our hope had nearly faded, realizing that we had to move on, not being able to bear the constant pain. Fortunately for us, he showed up about four months ago, in February. Nearly five years later, our long lost father had returned. He was so afraid, when he returned, that we would reject him. In reality, we gave him a second chance. Why? Because the only way to enjoy our time with him was to just move on. Living in the past doesn‘t accomplish anything. My father was astonished how quickly we forgave him; but we were just glad he was back. Giving my father a second chance showed him where he had faulted, and how he could fix our relationship. He is now constantly keeping in contact with my sister and I. Without his second chance, my father would still be alone, in the hole he dug for himself. Instead, my sister and I tossed down the rope of forgiveness to open up a brighter future for all of us. Granted he still is a struggling alcoholic, but he’s aware of it, and works everyday to get better.

Granting my struggling father a second chance was successful in my situation, but works for any other situation as well. No matter how terrible the offense, a second chance can’t fix what happened, but it can make life much more enjoyable. The door opened by a second chance creates an infinite number of possibilities through forgiveness and redemption. This is why I believe in second chances.