Colin Powell: Epiphanies and Second Chances.

[madaboutharry]

Colin Powell made some regrettable and dishonorable choices in his life. Participating in the cover-up of the My Lai massacre and lying to the American people and the world about weapons of mass destruction were reprehensible and disgraceful.

But something happened to the man. Maybe he woke up one day, looked at himself in the mirror and made a vow to himself that he would transform himself. People can change, when they want to.

Maybe he slowly changed when he saw the devastating toll of a misbegotten endless war. Maybe it was Barack Obama running for president. Maybe it was something else.

The Colin Powell who passed away today was not the same man of the past. I have always believed that a person who owns their mistakes and wrongdoings and works at being better deserves to be taken at face value.

I think one of the hardest things for people to do is admit they were wrong. When someone steps up and shows they have changed they at the very least deserve to have as part of their legacy the evolution that marked the second chapter of their life.

The bad is never erased, but I don’t think Colin Powell was a bad person. May he Rest In Peace.

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. I feel the same

I know that's not popular viewpoint on this site today.

[Skittles]

2. please

the man did not learn a thing from the Vietnam war, then participated in lying America into another senseless war.......nothing honorable there.....nope

[zipplewrath]

3. Not all processes are reversible

I read his autobiography. I don't think he understood that much like Justice Thomas, he was where he was because he was a compliant black man. He was the poster child for GQP tolerance and their version of inclusion. He didn't advocate the policies the the GQP, but he allowed them to be advanced with his picture. The story is told that he gave his speech at the UN and insisted that the CIA director be seated behind him as some sort of indication that he was doing what he was told. He was chosen because he was the "most trustworthy" of the senior staff. He allowed and participated in that "trust". The reality is that he advanced at almost every stage of his career because he could be trusted to say and do what was needed to be said and done, even when he disagreed.

I do believe that towards the end, he began to understand what he had done, and what he had allowed to be done. Good, but in the end that doesn't change anything. When he could have made a difference, he didn't. My biggest regrets in life are over the times I should have stepped up, and didn't. The consequence of that was usually a person who experienced no support when they were most alone. With Powell, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraq's died because he didn't stand up. That's what should be on his head stone.

[Skittles]

4. than you

Biden said Powell put country first? No, he didn't. Not even close.

[hlthe2b]

5. I feel the same. I can only hope I never commit a mistake as far-reaching as his, but I likewise

would hope those around me could look at the good I did in life--as well as my deep remorse for mistakes made. It was not Powell who made the decision to lie us into war. He surely enabled the lie, but was lied to himself. It seems few are willing to acknowledge this important distinction.

Honestly, the failure to be able to see gradients of culpability or differentiate unrepentant "evil" among those we oppose is really sad, but widespread today. Can we not save it for the likes of Cheney, Trump and so many others who will never change, never admit their mistakes or horrific misdeeds, and who may well never be held accountable?