The first chapter of the Michael Vick redemption tour was unfurled yesterday.

A clearly repentant Vick paid an unannounced visit to the Nueva Esperanza Academy charter school in northeast Philly.

If you listened to Vick speak to these kids, you had to come away impressed. At least I was.

But here’s the real question. Who wrote those moving words? Was this from Vick’s heart, and from his head, or was he simply mouthing what some hotshot PR outfit had scripted for him as he tries to atone for his egregious actions in operating a dogfighting ring.

I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I suppose the bottom line is that it doesn’t matter who wrote the words. It certainly appears that Vick is earnestly trying to carry the message of the problem of dogfighting where it desperately needs to be heard, in the community.

This was part of the deal that got him re-entry back into the league after being in prison for two years. Vick will not be eligible to play until Week 3 of the regular season, when the Eagles face the Chiefs at the Linc on Sept. 27.

My guess is that Vicky likely will face a tad bit more hostile crowd that day, both inside and outside the stadium, than he did at that school yesterday.

He would do well to repeat some of the words he used yesterday.

He admitted to the kids that he had been a follower, and not a leader, and urged the young people not to take the same path.

“Growing up, I had dreams and I always wanted to have this great, lavish life and make it to the NFL, go and accomplish great things and leave a great legacy,” Vick said. “My future was promising ... at some point, I got sidetracked. I started listening to my friends and doing some things that were not ethical and not right.”

Vick appeared with Wayne Pacelle, leader of the Humane Society of the United States. He is helping coordinate some of Vick’s activities along with the Eagles.

“It’s really a test of our character as individuals about being good to those who are less powerful,” Vick said.

That’s now two times I have heard Vick speak in public since he was signed by the Eagles. Both times I have been impressed by his sincerity, by his thoughtfulness and by the way he conducted himself.

Of course I suppose that would be tempered by the fact that I have been less then awed by his performance on the field so far.

On the grand scale of things, I think what he was doing yesterday at that school is infinitely more important than anything he does on the field.

That’s the editor speaking, not the die-hard Eagles fan.

I’ll offer a bit more on that this weekend when I return to my practice of making an Eagles pick each Saturday morning, as well as in my Monday column.