Where Are Our Heroes? The Penn State Drama

The situation at Penn State should cause everyone to sit back and take stock as to where our individual values are, and measure our own moral compass. We are supposed to be heroes to our children, to those who look up to us and those that are in our care. I have asked the question before during my Ted talk, how could anyone walk past a crime being committed and do nothing about it? What each level of administration did, not only at Penn State, but at The Second Mile and the other organization and other instances linked to these heinous crimes against children, was the walking past a crime and not doing anything about it.

I understand the concept of due process and trust me completely appreciate innocent until proven guilty. I completely object to rush to judgment especially in social media. This however is different; this information is coming from a two-year grand jury investigation detailing 40 counts, 21 of them felonies, of child abuse over a 15 year period. These are our children, and they are more important than any football games, school pride, school brand, educational standards, or any of the other excuses that are currently being used to muffle or silence the voices of the victims.

Every student who rioted and marched last night in Happy Valley, every future parent, needs to take a look inside and say, what if that was my child, what if I was one of the victims? We as a society need to get back to the village mentality. We need to look after each other and each other’s children. That is the only way to protect them, and give them the safety and comfort of growing up in an environment which will armor them from the evils of the world that we all know do exist.

To those in the world that wish to rush to the aid of Joe Paterno and Mike McQueary, think about what you’re defending. This has nothing to do with a coaching legend, this has nothing to do with winning football games or the psyche of the current team or Penn State’s 12^th ranked record. This has nothing to do with Penn State! This has everything to do with individuals ignoring the call, which is inside of each and every one of us, to be a hero, or a villain. In the immortal words of the late Martin Luther King Jr. “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

Where Are Our Heroes?  Where are you?