The Tragic Lessons of Penn State — A Call to Action
No one thought it would end this way. Joe Paterno, the legendary head football coach at Penn State University heard of his firing by the school’s board of trustees by phone last night. Just two weeks after achieving the most wins of any NCAA Division One football coach in history, Paterno was fired. His firing — a necessary action by the Penn State board of trustees — holds lessons for us all.
Almost a decade ago, a graduate assistant told Coach Paterno that an assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, had been observed forcing a young boy into a sexual act in the school’s football locker room showers. Sandusky was himself a big name in Penn State football, and he was considered a likely successor to Paterno if the head coach had retired. Sandusky also ran a non-profit organization for boys, and he brought the boys onto the Penn State campus. He continued to do so even after his own retirement from Penn State’s coaching staff.
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I am sick. As A Penn State alum I can't even begin to fathom what the reality of this situation is. If Jerry is guilty of the charges leveled against him then he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
However, I can't help but wonder at the timing of all of this. As any Penn Stater knows only too well, the media and the college football community have a love/hate relationship with Joe Paterno. This abuse story has been known about for years in Pennsylvania, but it is only now becoming national news? Why? I am not trying to find a conspiracy where there isn't one, but I can't help but wonder why it is only blowing up after Joe has won the game that made him the winningest coach in college football AND during the season where Penn State had a very good chance of winning the Big Ten. If you think that money didn't influence the timing of this story, I have an acre of prime Florida swampland to sell you.
-EricSorry Eric, but timing has nothing to do with it. Even if your suspicions are found to be true the fact remains that Paterno (and everyone who knew about this & didn't contact the police) is morally culpable for failing to protect the boys Sandusky later raped. It's appalling that so many people are more concerned for the enablers than the victims. I suggest you read the grand jury transcript in this case. It's heart-breaking. Paterno got off lightly as did the grad student who, when he witnessed the rape of the 10 year old child as it was happening, ran out of the building and called his father instead of picking up the nearest heavy object to stop the assault. This coward wouldn't come to the aid of a defenseless, innocent child or even call the police! They are all guilty of self-serving moral cowardice and deserve no mercy. Every study shows the recidivism rate for pedophilia is near 100% so that there is no reason to give them a second chance to assault another child. Pedophiles need to be stopped. Sandusky needed to be stopped and everyone who knew what he was and what he was doing should have stopped him. Shame on them all.
-SuzanneI agree. And I can't believe that the monster who committed these sick crimes is out on bail. It's sickening in every way.
-Linda F.Get your facts straight – Sandusky was no longer a coach when the incident occurred that the graduate assistant witnessed. What was alleged to have happened was terrible and wrong. Incidents that occurred long before this were reported and not followed up This was after he was in effect told to leave coaching. The perpetrator and those who acted in order to minimize this should be prosecuted to the full extent when the truth is determined in a court of law and not the court of publicity and public opinion.
-DaveI fail to see why Joe Paterno is fired. I would think that being given a leave of absence or something like that would have worked. True he should have reported anything such as sexual abuse going on or at least watched for it after being told. This is a case of watching out who you run around with. If you are around people that end up in jail for something even if you are innocent if you were there you are considered guilty too for knowing aobut it if nothing else.
-JudyYHmmmm,
-KittyKatJudy may I ASSUME that it wasn't YOUR child that this nastiness happened to? If you found out about something like that, would you not followup to see what was being done?
Notice I said Joe who is not the one that was doing the molesting. He should have been punished but I considered firing a little harsh since they don't fire policemen for killing someone. They just go on leave of absence. The other man doing the molesting should be in jail soon and expect to be there for a long time.
-JudyYto my knowledge,even lower forn animals do not submit to thes kind of behavior..,,,,,…this is a crime against society, and i wonder when and if it will becone an issue to correct…. and to be aware of it and not correct it is sharing the same guilt, and needs to be punished….i cannot fathom why men have allowed thier morals to corrode beyomd reasoning..as to subject innocent victims to some weird desire….may
-tessgod have mercy on all….
Eric, that prime Florida swampland is very valuable, I know for I live in Florida. The timing of this is like Ohio State's coverup by Coach Trestle, who waited until after the season and bowl game, to admit to his players' wrong doing. The tragedy about Penn State is the harm wasn't inflicted on the innocent. The coverup by those who are responsible for teaching their young men honor, integrity, morals, and to be leaders and stand up for what is right, is just appalling. People who knew of this, and did not take appropiate action, is devoid of character qualities needed to teach young men in their custodial sphere. This especially relates to Coach Paterno, whose great career is now marred by his decission to not take propper action, morally required if not legally, and became complacent of his employee's molestations while under his employment, and all for winning football games. Penn State University has now taken the propper actions in reguard to these molestations and of those who prolonged them through coverups and nonaction. I have to give Penn State University a lot of credit, for now that these molestations are publicly known, are taking the correct actions, despite how unpopular those actions may be.
-Randy131You really wonder why no one knew that this guy was a homosexual? Was it all covered up because they did not want to bring light that it was a homosexual that was preying on the kids? What else makes sense about this whole mess?
-JimAssuming he's guilty as charged, he's not a homosexual but a pederast. Child abusers are not homosexual as such — it's just easier for male pederasts to gain unsupervised access to little boys than to little girls. Male homosexuals are no more likely to prey upon little boys than male heterosexuals are to molest little girls.
-SteveIn ancient Greece, where pederasty was socially acceptable, fathers often played matchmaker for their sons, pairing them off with a distinguished lover who could help advance the boys' careers. But a man who continued such a relationship after the boy reached puberty or who had sex with another adult male was considered a pervert.
If you have sex with the same sex, you are a homosexual. Just because he goes for them earlier than most does not change the fact. I guess you missed the push a week or so ago by the homosexual activists to lower the age of consent?
-JimThey made certain not to call Sandusky a Homosexual, which is exactly what he is, a Homosexual predator! This is not at all out of character for the Homosexuals!
-Dean"If you have sex with the same sex you're a homosexual" is true in the same sense that a lawyer who plays an occasional pick-up basketball game at the neighborhhod park is a professional basketball player.
-SteveThat's some analogy Steve! It makes completely no sense, but go for it! How's this one? If a dog had a square A$$, would it $hit bricks? The truth is, if you desire sex with people of your own sex, you have homosexual desires! To infer this is something else is laughable! Just because a group of people wish to sugarcoat what they are, is no reason for anyone else to go along with it. I call a Spade a Spade, anyone that doesn't is trying to obfuscate the issue!
-DeanIf my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle. Your analogy is worthless, Steve.
-DavidI'll add you to the list of the fools who really put children at risk. While you're protecting the kids from homosexuals, the real pederasts are having a field day.
-SteveAnd, by the way, if you were secure in your own masculinity, you wouldn't be bothered by homosexuals, any more than it bothers Geroge Bush and me when somebody at the next table orders broccoli.
And thank you, by the way, for reassuring me of the truth of Mark 4:12.
hmmmm, tell ya what, heres a call to action, start blasting child welfare, concerning the occupy women, putting their small children in harms way, demand they clear out all children from the tent cities, that predators are cruising through. unreal.
-rickSimply stated: MORAL TERPITUDE.
-WinstonJoe Paterno has proven the Biblical message to all of us, "There are those who do right in their own eyes, but it leads to destruction."
Ignorance like Dean and Jim's is exactly what puts children at risk. While they're guarding the back door of their churches, schools, and homes against "homosexual predators", the real predators — who don't look or act like homosexuals because they're not homosexuals — walk in the front door and with the kids.
-StevePart of the problem at Penn State — again, assuming the charges are true — may well have been that everyone had known Sandusky for years. They knew he wasn't a homosexual, and so — like Dean and Jim — assumed he couldn't have really been doing what he was doing.
The NCAA oversight of college sports programs has also failed in speak up on this issue, so what did they know? The NCAA should also "kill" the Penn State football program for at least 5 full years in order to completely clean house there before granting them reinstatement. Joe Paterno is now in the cross-hairs of a huge multi-million dollar civil suit and possbile criminal misconduct as well…and the same for the Athletic Director and any executive official at Penn State who had any knowledge of the child rapes and molestation charges. If I were an alumnus of Penn State, there'd be no more checks to the school's Financial Development/Giving program…
-Winston