The more I read about this travesty, the more disheartened I become. I heard Joe Paterno's gravely voice on the radio the other day praying for the victims and their families. It turned my stomach, to be honest, and that was before I knew how much he actually knew. What was apparent was that dissent and disgust were being run up the flag pole and that it was only a question of when and how many heads would roll.
What I didn't realize until this morning when I read this terrific column by San Francisco Chronicle writer Scott Ostler, was the fact that so many folks were aware of the abuse but ran the other way. Members of the sports staff, even janitors, refused to say "WTF are you doing?" to Sandusky. The university president had even been advised of the problem.
And now people at the university are protesting Paterno's firing by the Board of Trustees.
Why does it always seem that damage control is what matters most to these folks? They swoop in, have their emergency meetings and fire folks once word gets out to the public.
How is this different from the Catholic church, other than in the size and scope of the problem?
What will it take for once and for all for grown-ups to defend society's most innocent victims?
Or is this like the "near misses" we hear about in the airline industry? We learn of two planes almost colliding and we gasp. But we never heard about the myriad events just like it where planes flew too closely together or almost touched wings while landing on parallel runways (SFO is a fun one for that!) Events that the FAA logs on a regular basis. But what we don't know is actually much better for our collective consciousness.
I wonder how many of these travesties (children, not planes) continue all around us, within view of people too busy saving their own sorry asses.
I am wide open to hearing a different point of view. But if this were the archeology department, I doubt rioters would take to the streets. A culture of sports obsession and ferocious competition, which then glorified the guys who brought such victory to the Nittany Lions, is part of what permitted this to occur and then to be so violently protested.
What I didn't realize until this morning when I read this terrific column by San Francisco Chronicle writer Scott Ostler, was the fact that so many folks were aware of the abuse but ran the other way. Members of the sports staff, even janitors, refused to say "WTF are you doing?" to Sandusky. The university president had even been advised of the problem.
And now people at the university are protesting Paterno's firing by the Board of Trustees.
Why does it always seem that damage control is what matters most to these folks? They swoop in, have their emergency meetings and fire folks once word gets out to the public.
How is this different from the Catholic church, other than in the size and scope of the problem?
What will it take for once and for all for grown-ups to defend society's most innocent victims?
Or is this like the "near misses" we hear about in the airline industry? We learn of two planes almost colliding and we gasp. But we never heard about the myriad events just like it where planes flew too closely together or almost touched wings while landing on parallel runways (SFO is a fun one for that!) Events that the FAA logs on a regular basis. But what we don't know is actually much better for our collective consciousness.
I wonder how many of these travesties (children, not planes) continue all around us, within view of people too busy saving their own sorry asses.
I am wide open to hearing a different point of view. But if this were the archeology department, I doubt rioters would take to the streets. A culture of sports obsession and ferocious competition, which then glorified the guys who brought such victory to the Nittany Lions, is part of what permitted this to occur and then to be so violently protested.
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