Thursday, November 10, 2011

Penn State's Moral Compass

The recent events at Penn State have infuriated me. While I usually write about cooking and cleaning, I feel that as a mother and a human being, this subject deserves some attention. Joe Paterno has played himself as the "moral compass" of Penn state, and while he may have been a great coach, he clearly is lacking as a human being, and his indifference directly contributed to a multitude of boys being sodomized at the hands of one of his coaches.
This story is sickening from the beginning, but what really put me over the edge were the riots that took place near the Penn St campus last night upon students learning that Paterno had been fired. I was infuriated when Old "Joepa" decided that he would resign at the season's end, as if the decision were up to him. I'm sorry, who exactly do you think you are? Do you think, Joe Paterno, that you are so far above the law that a University would actually play by your rules in regards to when you leave the institution? I guess you did, since you have done it before. But this was not about football. This is about the fact that you not only employed and ignored a pedophile, but that you still thought that you were above the law in this regard. How dare you. The last time I checked, when people refer to a "moral compass", it does not read "Right, Wrong, or Protect Joe Paterno". Unfortunately, it seems that the latter is what the students and staff at Penn St. follow. Well let me tell you something, Joe. The mothers of America do not care how many football games you have won, how many players you have influenced, or how many lives you have changed. We care about the lives you tossed aside by your indifference and callous disregard. You knew, and you did essentially nothing. How dare you. You deserve to go out not in a blaze of glory, but in a veil of shame. Your years of coaching mean nothing if you are not the kind of person who would protect innocent children from a predator. In fact, instead of protecting the victims, you protected the predator and made damn sure that his actions didn't ruin your own precious reputation.

In regards the the riots last night at Penn St: It seems that the football program is not the only problem at Penn St, it is the level of education. To see misguided students tossing over a TV van, breaking windows and getting hit with pepper spray hints at a lack of discipline and education that is clearly campus wide, not solely confined to the football field. Perhaps these students do not have children, and cannot fathom the pain that would come with having your son raped by a dirty old man, only to have it covered up. Their ignorance only shows that they clearly care more about a football program than actual people.

As to Mike McQueary, who reported what he saw to Joe Paterno. Let me tell you something: When you see an 11 year old boy being RAPED by a dirty old man, you don't walk away and call your daddy and then Joe Paterno. You rip the old man off of him and beat the shit out of him. Then you call 911. If, god forbid anyone ever did this to my son, I would pray that if anyone saw it they would protect him, not some stupid university football coach. I also pray that when my son becomes a man, he would defend the child who was being sodomized, not some football coach.