The use of second chances...and why they should instead be recycled and used as new first chances for other ,more deserving, persons.

"All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else"
-Mae West

So, I've got this soft spot in my heart...which I've been trying to beat into submission for years.
The truth is that I, like everyone's favorite singing, repentant Arkansas racist, Nellie Forbush, am nothin' but a cock-eyed optimist.
I have this strange desire to believe the best about people.
I try to be smart. I try to be direct and hard-core. I play a mean hard ball in a scrape. Trust me, you don't even want to be in the room- but at the end of the day I honestly believe that people change and that they deserve second chances.
The problematic portion of this belief resides in an equally problematic ratio within the human race: about 100,000 complete and utter jackasses for every legitimate Jean Valjean.
I keep telling myself that I should learn from the example of the prophet Jonah, who refused to see how another people could be forgiven when he himself had been forgiven for his rather egregious whale-inducing crimes ( "A flawed mortal prophet!" you ignorantly decry. Yes. I will call you out for the insanity that leaves your mouth on this blog, while I am willing to simply tolerate your crazy and mock you privately when you open your mouth in person.)
But still, I just keep finding that people don't deserve it. They tend to revert, not only to their old and usual behavior, but add to it a whole new level of jackassery the second time around. Now, while I tend to give people second chances, I am also appropriately emotionally detached when working with other people ( not all people, just the peer level ones. Others I either consider with indifference or intense, yet thoroughly classy, anger, sadness or fear. Peers, and non-powerful idiots...detached is the way to go).
This emotional detachment makes my observations of people digging themselves further into my poor graces all the more interesting/ uneventfully entertaining. It's like watching a lemming leap off a cliff and drown itself ( PLOP! "Hmmmm. Whoa. You know, I think I really shoulda' seen that one coming *nonchalant bite of sandwich*, but it still shocks me every time." GLUB GLUB "Yep...wait...I didn't order pickles with this.") But here's the kicker...I always end up thinking "Well, there is no way any rational creation of God could have failed so spectacularly on purpose. It all must've been a mistake and I'll give them another chance." *fishes lemming out of the puddle*
SECOND CHANCE: PLOP! *Looking down at ripples in puddle* "Hmmmm." *Looking back at the sandwich* "Man, I loooooove dijon mustard. This is fabulous."
I mean, dealing with these proverbial lemming people really doesn't bother me too much personally. It just wears steadily down on my faith in humanity.