The cost of silence and the cost of inaction

How the mighty fall!

And when the mighty fall, it is not a pretty sight.

Forty seven years of illustrious career and it all boils down to this.
Joe Paterno - an iconic name - not just in college football, but for the entire field of American sports.
Few can dream of such success and still fewer achieve it.

All gone - gone with a bang - for the cost of not speaking up when he should have.

It all comes down to integrity. Personal integrity in particular.
Can you sleep at night with a free conscience - in the knowledge that you have done the right thing?
Can you wake up in the morning and face the reflection in the bathroom mirror as you pick up your toothbrush?


I can't even really congratulate the board of directors of Penn State. I don't think it is witch hunt. I don't even think it is punishment - just or otherwise. It's just something they got to do. There are no winners in this. Only losers. And Joe is not even the biggest one of the losers - just the most famous one.

And there are some lessons here - for families, for Catholic Church, for businesses, for governments - for anyone acting to protect someone as heinous as a child molester.

If you are in a position of power, and you don't raise your arm or voice to protect the weak and the vulnerable from predators, that power vested in you sounds hollow. You are only a shell of power, with no real core inside.

And children are the most vulnerable of all.
Save the children.
Don't be silent against child abuse.


Comments

మాలతి said…
I don’t think it is a matter of winners and losers but one of right or wrong. Paterno may remain a winner within the context of the game and receive his 500000 dollar pension as usual but he failed miserably as a person of integrity and as a decent human being, as you put it. In fact, all the adults involved in this massive cover up of violation against a child are just as inhuman as Sandusky.
The game I am sure will pick up and move on as usual but the children violated by Sandusky are scarred forever.
Glad you brought it to the attention of a few more readers.