Collateral Damage

The statue of Joe Paterno at Penn State has been taken down. The NCAA has imposed sanctions which include a fine equal to one year of gross revenue (not profit) of the football program, four years of ineligibility for bowl games, and vacated wins going back to 1998.

There are many people who will be affected by this in State College, Pennsylvania. People who personally did nothing wrong. Those young men who dreamed of playing football for Penn State will be living a very different reality from that of their dreams. Businesses will suffer because the economy in that area is dependent on the school. Some will likely find themselves out of work.

Collateral damage, like the loss of innocent civilians during war. It's unavoidable in this case. But the NCAA and its president Mark Emmert are not to blame. It's important, I believe, to remember who is really responsible for all the carnage. Jerry Sandusky and the people such as Joe Paterno who sheltered him.

All of our actions in life have consequences, both pleasant and unpleasant, for those around us. We can become cavalier in our atttiude that what we do only affects us, but that is never true. How we live impacts others in both direct and indirect ways. It goes against what we as Americans often believe. We celebrate the rugged individualist who does it his own way. Yet we are all in this together, whether we like it or not. And my life affects other people, in ways I can't even begin to understand.

Susan

Give Them Back Their Souls

The jury is sequestered as they deliberate the fate of Jerry Sandusky, the former Notre Dame coach who is accused of raping young boys. I wrote about him here. Because they are cut off from the world, they don't know that Matthew Sandusky yesterday publicly accused his father of molesting him as well. Last fall, Matthew Sandusky's ex-wife obtained a restraining order keeping their children away from their grandfather.

While the evidence against Sandusky seems overwhelming, what it comes down to at least from my point of view, is whether or not the jury believes the testimony of the alleged victims. As I write this, the jury is still out. In closing arguments, prosecuting attorney Joseph McGettigan asked those twelve people to do right by the victims by finding Sandusky guilty and "give them back their souls."

I don't know if Sandusky committed the crimes. I have never suffered sexual abuse. I have never been raped.  So I can only imagine how those who have might feel. It seems to me that McGettigan used the perfect words. Give them back their souls.

Susan