What You Leave Behind

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that sanctions were handed down to Penn State in the wake of the Freeh report that indicates a massive failure by the school’s athletic program to protect children from child predator and pedophile Jerry Sandusky.

The NCAA sanctions are not what I mean to talk about right now.

What I do think merits discussion is the removal of Joe Paterno’s statue from outside the football stadium, which has caused some dismayed outcry from current students and alumni because, they say, Coach Paterno was a great man, and his legacy does not deserve to be tarnished in this way.

To which I can only say: Excuse me, but WHAT?

Let’s talk about that legacy:

Award winning, nationally recognized football program? Yep.

Contributed mad cash to the school, and got the library named after him? Okay.

Looked the other way and failed to report the fact that one of his staff members was a rapist of little boys? That’s what the Freeh report indicates. When a so called great man looks the other way and fails to protect children? That becomes his legacy.

Removing a statue of  Joe Paterno from the campus does not tarnish Coach Paterno’s legacy. He did that all by himself.  Excellence in football, while admirable, does not override failure to protect children by allowing a pedophile license to prey on them.

Of course, this is part of the problem with the way in which we idealize sports in America, isn’t it? We overlook. We forgive. Because winning is the thing. Scoring is the thing. Excellence on the field is the thing. Being an exemplary playmaker is often valued over being an exemplary human being.  So it’s deemed disrespectful by Paterno supporters – who loved what he did on the field, who worship exemplary playmaking – to remove his statue. His sins of omission, his failure to report, are dismissed with “Removing the statue will not help his victims.”

Oh, but I think it will. I think that when the statue was removed from the Penn State campus, it sent a clear message to the victims. It said that silence is not okay. It said that as an institution, Penn State will not condone or continue to revere a man who could have stepped in and failed to do so.

It’s Monday. Make a difference. Make it by speaking. Making it by writing. Make it by failing to stay silent when you see something wrong, when you notice someone being mistreated or abused, when you have the chance to correct an injustice.  Make your legacy an excellent one.