The Penn State Mess: Not Recognizing the True Victims; Joe Pa was Never a Hero
There is much hand-wringing, if not soul-searching, over the travails that Penn State is going through involving their former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky molesting young boys. It’s a pity that there is little, if any, consideration for the child victims.
A grand jury report details sexual abuse by Mr. Sandusky in graphic and vivid detail that would make anyone’s stomach turn (note: I will not be reading such as I need not challenge my intestinal fortitude).
Sadly, the media has moved quickly past the victims, who while not identified out of respect and privacy could at least be talked about in general terms, and focused on former Head Coach Joe Paterno who chose to inform a university official, and not the police, that a graduate assistant had told him in 2002 about witnessing Mr. Sandusky with a young boy in the showers. Mr. Paterno paid the smaller price in this tragedy of having to resign at the not-so-tender age of 84. The victims will have far more years to reminisce over this than “Joe Pa.”
There are dyspeptic students at the campus who think Mr. Paterno got a raw deal but as the kids at Occupy Wall Street have displayed, youth cannot always be looked upon for wisdom, let alone direction in moral quandaries like this one.
And, of course, the Penn State Board of Trustees is treating this as any great money-generating outfit would: do everything possible to preserve the cash inflow. Look for the board to rip some pages from the Catholic Church’s playbook on damage control and donation preservation.
But the real story is the unrealistic expectations and portrait that Penn State cultists had of “Joe Pa.” To wit, a very successful football coach, who appears to have done virtually everything by the book and had a good amount of success, was elevated to the status of hero or even saint.
Hardly.
By most accounts, Joe Pa ate, drank and slept football. There is nothing wrong with such and for all of the boys who went through his program and developed into fine men in part because of his leadership, he should be given his due.
Yet such strength as a football coach clearly did not translate into a perfect human being, let alone a hero or saint. When informed about the shower incident, he passed it onto his superior and it virtually left his mind. One cannot help but think that if it were a matter that directly affected his program (i.e. a potential high school draftee), he would have have followed up with an interest and focus that most people would have admired as typical Joe Pa. But in this case, it was an inconvenient matter that could only adversely affect his football world so: out of sight, out of mind.
That is not what a decent citizen, let alone a hero or saint, would do. Thus, Joe Pa was nothing more than a great coach who was otherwise human.
There is a larger lesson for all of us who wish to avoid expectation gaps: what The Wall Street Journal editorial board recently called the promiscuous use of the term “hero” is all too much a problem and misleads: if your “hero” hits 40 home runs a season, has a high winning percentage as coach, or the highest ratings on a reality show, maybe you should think about changing from your current “hero” to a real one.
-I.M.Windee
