Saying that it has been a rough few days for the folks in Happy Valley would be quite the understatement. The revelations coming from State College have been, well, what adjective does one choose for situation of this magnitude? Plenty come to mind, but, considering the reverberations of the events, none seem wholly suitable. I don't plan on this being the most pleasant of musings; though this hasn't been the most pleasant week, either.
I had never heard of Jerry Sandusky until 3 days ago. And all I know of him now is that he is a disgusting, unconscionable mass. It is required to judge a man by the whole of his being, and knowing there remains some good he has done in his life (his charity has helped children and he contributed to a great college football program) I still say he is a worm. For the misdeeds of this man far exceed the weight of his good; if a man does harm to one child in order to allow many to prosper, all the good that man did is worth naught. The depths of Sandusky's licentiousness seems to meet no end. What kind of person uses a charity for underprivileged youth as a bunny ranch? I am not one who believes in Hell, but if it exists, I'm sure there is a special circle for this monster.
Now, Penn State football in an institution. While I support the team and am part of the family, I was never a huge fan, nor did I buy into the deification of it's coach, one Joe Paterno. In fact, the first I heard of this man was from my late grandmother, "I never get a chance to watch Penn State, but I really like Joe Paterno. I hope he does well, he's such a nice man." Some people have tried to say that he isn't such a nice man after all. And to those I condemn. His good still has magnitudes more weight than his evil. It has been ridiculously easy to point your finger and say "for shame" this week; I know, because I participated myself. I like to think cool-heads prevail, but the temperature in this room was scorching. I hear a lot of, "well, if that were me..." you know what? Stop right there, and first off, fuck you. "If that were me" my ass. Doing the right thing isn't always easy, and I am not determined that Joe Paterno didn't do the right thing. When you're in your office, and you catch someone acting dishonestly (say steal, lie, etc.) what do you do? You tell your manager. If it's your manager, you tell his boss, if it's his boss, you call the ethics line. Every place you arrived in ever has a chain of command for these things. Before you say it, you're right. This isn't a sandwich from the fridge, it's a child's innocence. Those aren't even comparable. But there is a degree of trust in the institution which you're associated. You're told that the people above you will do the right thing if you trust them in these scenarios. This was the culture Joe Paterno was engrained in. Breaking this pattern wasn't in the books for Joe Paterno, he's spent the better part of his life following this chain. And that being said, you think Paterno chose the easy way out? He went to his bosses to tell them that a good friend of his was a pedophile. If that's not hard, tell me, please, what is? Paterno's failure was trusting the people he is supposed to go to for these matters would do their job. On this, he was wrong.
I also hear a lot of, "you have to call the authorities when that happens." You're right again, and maybe this is where guilt lies. But, lets find the others here who are guilty, shall we? The first documented events were in 1998. Sandusky had been "showering" with boys from the charity. The cops knew! They observed him say it. What happened? Nothing. In 2000 a janitor named James Calhoun is the first to witness Sandusky in sexual activity, and, like a good employee, tells his manager. Another janitor, Ronald Petrosky, sees Sandusky and the boy as well. Calhoun and Petrosky's boss, Jay Witherite, is informed by Calhoun. Witherite tells Calhoun to inform "someone" of authority, but the report never gets made. By the logic used to condemn Joe Paterno, I see 3 more guilty people. Now we come to 2002. A graduate assistant witnesses Sandusky having sex with a boy. The graduate assistant informs his father of what he saw, and then he tells Joe Paterno. Two more guilty parties just passing the word up the chain. Joe Paterno does what he is supposed to do, tells the university administration about the events he did not witness. After Tim Curley is told of what the graduate assistant told Joe Paterno, he calls a meeting with Gary Schultz. They question the graduate assistant; this is where the trail ends. They tell the assistant they'll take care of it and Sandusky is banned from the football building and campus. Police are not informed and the chain of communication stops. The graduate assistant is not spoken to again until reports from a boy, being helped by Sandusky's charity, about inappropriate touching on the part of Sandusky surface and a grand jury is compiled. So, all together, I count 6 guilty people for not going to the police (3 janitors, a graduate assistant and his father, and Joe Paterno,) and not counting the police who investigated in 1998. I also count 2 douche-bags at the top whom did not do their job and covered up a disgusting crime. So let's not play the "if that were me" game, because I see 7 others who had the chance and did nothing but what they were trained to do. How many before you call the police? 20 people, 50 people? It's not so easy. We'd like to think we take the best course of action, but, after all, we're only human. Human like Joe Paterno.
I was once told when you put on a uniform (sports or military, it doesn't matter) it is your job to leave the honor of the institution on that uniform in better standing than it was before you put it on. Being a Penn State athlete, I know how heavy that weight can seem. But nothing has tarnished the reputation of Penn State more than what 3 people did since the 1990s. Jerry Sandusky used a charity to rape children, while Gary Schultz and Tim Curley turned a blind eye to something despicable. I don't think we'll ever understand why they all did what they did, but they have no recourse. I do not blame Joe Paterno, but not being blamed and being scot free of falut are two different things. While it is reasonable to say "that's not his job to get the cops involved," hind-sight is always 20/20. More should have been done. But don't let's loose sight of where the blame does reside. Also, let's not forget where the real crime here is. More and more boys are coming forward now, the lineage of Sandusky's serial assault seems to be without bounds. The tragedy here is the boys and families who have suffered the wrath of a fiend. And that cannot compare with anything you, or me, or even Joe Paterno feels right now. Learn from this tragedy.
They say all good things come to an end. Well, one of our good things came to an end Saturday, October 29th with a come-from-behind 409th win for Joe Paterno. And that is how I'll choose to remember him. Unfortunately, the path into the future looks rough. If all good things do come to an end, then well, all bad things have a beginning; and this bad thing is far from over.
