Action is always better than inaction

The dust is slowly settling down on the sad and disturbing sex scandal at Penn State University. The scandal has erased the 46 year coaching career of Joe Paterno in a matter of days. There are several lessons in this sordid saga, but if there is one takeaway from Joe Pa's firing, it is that action is always better than inaction, especially when the aforementioned action can prevent some bad things from happening to innocent people. The disgusting part of this story and what got Joe Pa fired is how little people did to help the helpless kids and how easily and for how long Jerry Sandusky got away with some of the gravest crimes you could think of. If you read the grand jury report, you see how many people - big and small, were made aware of the sexual abuse over many years and they all did next to nothing. Given his power and influence, Joe Pa had to be fired for not having done more to stop this pedophile.

All the people who saw Sandusky do those despicable things should be ashamed of themselves for not reacting the way they should have. Not acting or reporting Sandusky to the authorities not only let him off the hook that one time and hurt that one kid, but it probably gave him more confidence and encouragement to continue perpetrating his crimes. He then begins to think, "people have seen me do these horrible things right here in the Penn State locker room and I am still not in jail, let alone not yet killed or even punched in the face!" So his fear and shame reduces and he continues to do more of the same. These guys basically empowered a pedophile. This is why we should always act when we can stop something bad. Always act when we can do something good. Inaction only makes bad things worse and worse things vile. It is somewhat sad to see Joe Pa go out this way after all these years. It's never fun to see a legend fall like that. But he had to go because he failed to do all he could to protect the kids.

Speaking of vile, Google's example for the usage of the word is "as vile a rogue as ever lived". They should put Jerry Sandusky's face next to it. It is indeed the best description of him. It is pretty obvious from the grand jury report that this guy had a method and a scheme for meeting, befriending and abusing kids and he deployed this pattern repeatedly. He used Penn State's football program and his access to it's resources as an effective tool in the process. This is why Penn State looks really bad. Even if Penn state was not aware of a lot of the details, they had enough to treat him as a "suspect" since 1998 and they still didn't do anything and let kids get assaulted right under their nose for many years. What were they waiting for? There is no conceivable answer to this question and that's exactly why everybody from Joe Pa to the President of the university have been fired.

As if this scandal is not dirty enough, the fact that Sandusky used a charitable foundation for kids called The Second Mile to meet and recruit his victims makes me sick to my stomach. That's just messed up. And the story can apparently get even worse if you believe all the ugly rumors floating around and I don't even want to go there. It's easy to sit on our couch and judge everybody from Joe Pa to Mike McQueary to the AD and the president. But if we find ourselves in such situations, I hope we all do the right thing. Lets use this scandal to reinforce the value of positive action, integrity and strength of character. There are no substitutes for these. Sometimes in life, silence and walking away may appear like the easy way out, but abdicating our responsibility never works. It only leads to more problems and headaches down the road, not to mention that you shouldn't be able to walk away with a clear conscience in the first place. Untimely silence will even get you fired for a crime you didn't commit and Joe Pa can attest to that.