Mac-Coleman

10 November 2011 –

Bumper Sticker of the Day – “But whoso shall offend one these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)

Penn State University 1976 - 2011.

For whom should we lament in this awful tale of human destruction that has played out in the last decades of Penn State football? Certainly not the sexual predator whose decades of destruction of souls should buy him a special place in the hell of prison. May he live to be one hundred twenty with all his mental faculties intact to rue his deeds. Certainly not the university’s Athletic Director and its Vice President for Finance and Business who were charged by police with perjury to a grand jury and failure to report a crime. Certainly not the university president, who was sacked last night by the Board of Trustees, who did indeed receive reports of “uncomfortable incidents” but failed to follow-up. They got what their actions bought them.

What about the head football coach, the nexus of this prurient nightmare’s dénouement? Well, it requires a cold strength to see such a monster as a sexual predator of children in one’s stewardship and then to do something decisive to stop him. Not everybody has that strength. Such strength is built by exercising dedication to principle over position and by desiring respect over adulation. Such strength is built on a life of demonstrating that how one succeeds in an endeavor is more important than if one succeeds. Such strength is shown when one instinctively turns to the sounds of the battle and does not shirk the hard choices that certainly follow. Such strength is a rare gift. But, with the proper coaches and mentors by one’s side, a man or women can indeed weave that strength into the fabric of his or her life. Then, when the moment of crisis comes, one does not turn away. The outcome, you see, was already determined long ago on the practice field of life. The game of life merely reveals the character by which the game is played.

Do such words spoken in a locker room or in an awards ceremony sound familiar? Yes. Do they ring true? Yes. Do they describe the head coach who was fired last night by the Penn State University’s Board of Trustees? No. Does that coach deserve our lament? No. The board’s denying him the request to retire at the end of the season for his “dignity and respect” is a sound one. In the end, the head coach is not charged with any criminal wrongdoing for his limp participation in this affair; according to police, he did the minimum required by the law to report the crimes.

Those who deserve our lament are the score of boys, many of whom are now men, whose lives may be forever broken by the acts of a monster and his abettors. Cheaters, weaklings, and perverts—all associated with Penn State University—imposed a twisted and harsh life on these boys and their families. If the university really wants to restore honor and legitimacy to its message, it should step up to its obligation to help these families restore a sense of decent normalcy to their daily lives. Man up, Penn State. Or, are you going to just do the minimum to fulfill the law?