Sad times in Happy Valley

10 Nov

My original plan for today was a two part series on the Penn State child abuse scandal and the resulting fallout. I’ve since thought better of it. I like to keep it light and fun here, so Penn State isn’t fitting that bill right now. I do feel like I have to say something though. Penn State has played such a large part of my past, it’s still here in my present and I’m quite sure it will play a role in my future. Penn  State was the only university I applied to, if I wasn’t going there, I wasn’t going to college.

First and foremost, my heart goes out to the victims and their families. Those boys were robbed of their innocence and no child deserves that. The fact that a man could use his position with the university and the charity he started to help kids, to hurt them has kept me up at night and brought me to tears. I’ve put myself in the shoes of those boy’s mothers, and my heart is absolutely broken. I hope that as time passes the victims can find closure and move on to lead wonderful lives. I send my love and prayers their way.

We could probably go back and forth all day with the coulda, shoulda, woulda, but we can’t change what happened.

As a graduate of Penn State, I support my school, and I support JoePa. Stop and hear me out a sec before you send the lynch mob my way. I have to look at his life as a whole. A life that has been more than just football. A life that changed other lives…for the better. He is a good man and I wholeheartedly believe that if he truly knew what the media thinks he knew, nothing would have stopped him from doing what needed to be done for the victims. Joe Paterno IS a good man. If you choose to believe what is being said on Facebook, twitter, in the newspapers and on TV without looking into things further, that is certainly your prerogative. Keep in mind that sex offenders are masters at hiding what they do which is why most sex offenders have no record.

I have to say that I really feel that the news media latched on to the big name and forgot about everything else. Why aren’t they talking about the victims and how this will affect them? Why aren’t they talking about the accused and what he did? Why aren’t they dragging the McQueary name through the mud? McQueary saw this go down with his own eyes and just walked away. How do you see a child being rapped and just walk away? He called his father, not the police and not Joe. He didn’t bring anything up to Joe until 24 hours later. Why is he still planning on spending Saturday afternoon on the sidelines against Nebraska? McQueary was in the ultimate position to stop this from happening, right then and there. Again, coulda, shoulda, woulda.

I also wanted to touch on the riots that broke out last night after the news of JoePa’s firing came out. To the students involved, SHAME ON YOU!!! You are Penn State students, act like it! For the rest of you non-Penn Staters, what they did was NOT ok, and I wish that the actions of the students last night hadn’t sparked so much anti-Penn State talk. I understand their frustrations, but what they did was wrong, there is always a better way. I also want the world to know that because a riot broke out over the firing of our coach, it DOES NOT mean that they (or we) don’t care about the victims. If you would have pulled any of those kids aside you would see that they are disgusted and genuinely care. Being upset over Joe and upset about the boys who have been robbed of their youth are NOT mutually exclusive. You can indeed be upset about JoePa’s firing AND care about the victims of Sandusky.

I hope that we can all move past this ugly situation and do what is right for the victims. I will not let the despicable actions of a few take away the pride I have for Penn State. They do not represent what Penn State stands for. The millions of people that have gone through that fine institution and have done great things with their lives, they’re the ones who represent what Penn State stands for.

WE ARE…PENN STATE!

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