Tattered Jeans
Silence and indifference of good people is tragic legacy of Penn State scandal
Nov 26, 2011 | 5:00 pm
What continues to unravel at Penn State is heart stopping. To the alleged victims, it stopped lives. Certainly growth.
At halftime during the Penn State vs. Nebraska football game soon after the horrifying news that former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky had been charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period, The university's Interim President Rodney Erickson gave a brief message. He closed with the Penn State mantra that many are familiar with.
Looking determinedly into the camera, he spoke with a tone I found stupefying considering the circumstances. “We ARE Penn State,” he said.
The problem lies in who you ARE Mr. Erickson. It's horrifying that any group puts preserving an institution paramount over protecting people. In this case, children!
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people.
And it begs the question, who are you, Penn State? A question all institutions and communities would do well in asking themselves and on a regular basis.
While children of Happy Valley were allegedly raped (not sexually abused), adults went silent. Sleeping is one thing. Seeing from one eye, holding the other closed or worse, winking, is a culture gone ill. Martin Luther King spoke to this with eloquence.
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people.
Who were the good people at Penn State? Where were the good people of Happy Valley? Seemingly, they were the kids who fell prey to Sandusky. Imagine the courage it took to put words to their nightmare.
The students who hit the streets that night, toppling over the media van, holding signs saying “We Love Joe Pa,” in defense of ousted head coach Joe Paterno, appeared to be in a clueless frenzy. Let’s hope that those students have now gone inside themselves, looking at their culture up close and personally.
Individuals are what communities and institutions are made of. So who are you? What do you believe? What are you willing to risk? To the latter question, seemingly only children have answered. Courageously. They may be victims but they will forever be heroes too.
To the adults who in the slightest of way helped in keeping this heinous marathon of rape a secret, I say, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” you are Penn State.
