I haven’t been blogging faithfully, strictly because of the busy life I have been dealing with as of late. BUT, this week I am so MAD that what has come to light this week makes me voice my opinion on the matter that is coming to light at State Park, Pennsylvania. I do not even know where to begin voicing my frustrations, disgust, sadness, and disappointment in the situation that is playing out before our eyes. I have seen grown men cry and become angry about what is going on, and students riot and act irrationally. I myself have been so maddened by what has happened I found myself clinching my fist while reading the indictment in its entirety. This goes beyond anything I would have even imagined. What has happened is inexcusable and unforgivable. Amongst all the controversy and mudded details there is one simple truth to all of this. What happened was wrong, at every level. We can all agree that Jerry Sandusky is a demented and sick person. A predator to the most disgusting level it is sad what he has done to the victims. But this isn’t about him. He is no longer the controversy here. People such as Joe Paterno (head coach at Penn State University), Tim Curley (Athletic Director of Penn State University), Gary Schultz (Vice President of Penn State University), Graham Spanier (President of Penn State University), Mike McQueary (Graduate Assistant and Assistant Coach at Penn State University) amongst many others are now the controversy. The men who I have mentioned are all public figures and leaders at Penn State University. Another thing that connects these men is their lack of responsibility and poor judgment used in the Jerry Sandusky case. Every one of these men knew of the actions, or at least knew something of the actions, and carried out only their legal requirements in addressing the situation. Mike McQueary is the first person I’d like to single out here. This man, he was 28 years old at the time, saw a man raping a boy in the locker room showers. He said he even knew that both the child, about 10 years of age at the time, and Jerry Sandusky both saw him. Instead of confronting the situation he simply went to his office and called his father. He then left the building all together and did nothing else to stop what was going on. He instead passed the information on to Joe Paterno and expected him to take care of the matter. My question is Why didn’t he do something right then and there? How could he see what was happening to a 10 year old boy, a child who needs the protection of an adult, an completely let that kid down by doing nothing to stop it. How can you make eye contact with someone who is being abused and violated, see that pain in his eyes, make eye contact with a man who is performing such inexcusable acts and see the pure evil in that man, and do absolutely nothing about it? HOW? He should have stopped what was happening at the moment by whatever means necessary. Instead he didn’t. Then he told his superior. His superior passed it up the chain of command. And it continued that way. Those people, not including Mike McQueary, did the right thing in that instance, but their follow up actions are where they went wrong. Nothing happened and these men allowed it to be covered up and acted like it didn’t happen. In this situation they should have gone to a measure of calling the police. If that didn’t work they should have gone to the media. If a story is brought to light in the media, people are forced to take action. A simple phone call to ESPN would have ended the tragedy then and there. All of these men are supposed to upstanding citizens, role models, and good people. They all failed miserably in this case. Leaders of an institution should have the moral fiber to act against such an atrocity. But they didn’t. They chose to go on with life and act like nothing happened. They allowed the predator to continue with his life the same as it was. They chose the public view of the University and their jobs over doing what was right. This is why every last one of them should be without their jobs. Anyone who had a whisper or what was going on should have to suffer the consequences. There is no question that these men’s lives are forever changed by this. But more importantly are the victims who will be forever affected by what happened, and what happened to the victims is incomparably worse than losing a job.
