Thoughts on Penn State

Today the Joe Paterno statue was taken down in front of Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa. It is amazing to believe the cover up of the child abuse scandal. It permeated so many levels at Penn State including the once universally revered Joe Paterno to the President of the university. Tomorrow there is word that major sanctions from the NCAA are going to come down on the program and the university that are "unprecedented." Whatever the verdict of those sanctions, this clearly marks a shift in NCAA jurisdiction and implementation of sanctions. Typically there is a process where the school is notified and there is a chance for appeal. This time however Penn State is at the mercy of the NCAA.

For obvious reasons Penn State deserves what they get because an oversight of that magnitude is unacceptable.The bigger question for me is what does this say about us as human beings? So many people let this slide and said nothing. I truly believe that making these terrible decisions could have happened almost anywhere across the country. Is it human nature to go against our morals when we have lots to lose? We have seen it from time to over history...slavery, Holocaust, etc and unfortunately I think we will see it again. 

I aspire to conform to a high moral code, but I cannot say with 100% certainty that I would have done something in this case had I been in the shoes of Penn State administrators. This most unfortunate situation has served as a lesson for us all to step up when we see something wrong. Hopefully our society will learn from this tragic mistake.