Joel Hendon

The Unimaginable Tragedy Of Penn State And It’s Implications


Posted: Friday, November 18, 2011

by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html

I’ve never been a big football fan. I was too small to make the team even at a 3A high school, so I simply never did get too interested. I have kept up with it enough to know some of the outstanding players and coaches. And one of the coaches I have always admired and respected is Joe Paterno. I still do, and somehow, I cannot accept his being brazenly guilty of willfully overlooking child sexual abuse.

But the nefarious episode from Penn State, regardless of how true or untrue, has brought on such strong reactions, far ahead of anything such as being proven guilty, that it has caused so very much unspeakable damage to so many people and even to the great college itself. The party from which this awful mess has arisen of course is Jerry Sandusky, Paterno’s assistant coach for many years. I acknowledge that there have been numerous boys who have now weighed in on claims of sexual abuse. I also acknowledge that he appears to be guilty as charged, something that I have no sympathy for. But the man denies that he has done nothing more than “horse around with the kids” and he does admit that he had often showered with them and that he should not have done so.

And, although Paterno allegedly reported some inappropriate activities by Sandusky to the person he was supposed to report such, yet failed to follow up on seeing that something was done about it, has now become so deeply involved as to have a brilliant history completely demolished.

The problem has ballooned after the first word was spread and the frenzied anger from it pressured the school’s trustees to fire Paterno and the university’s president, Graham Spanier. Now consider for a moment, that these two men have lost, not only their positions, but their reputations and much of their respect by many. And, although the evidence mounts as to the guilt of Sandusky, and the severity of it, even though he denies it, why are all these people being destroyed before the accused has even been proven guilty. And neither have they been proven guilty of neglect.

Nothing can be done to salvage these reputations, regardless of how many juries should clear them. Inaction in cases such as this is unforgivable, yet to take such drastic steps against highly respected, revered, people as was Paterno, without even a day in court, seems equally unforgivable to me.

One problem facing this society today is the influence of what I call “mob rule”. Our pundits on the internet and the mass demonstrations including violence and obscenity are having far more influence than they should. The current Wall Street protesting and rioting is going far beyond the “freedom of speech” they like to call it. Freedom of speech does not include blocking traffic, destroying property, illegally urinating and defecating on public property, physically attacking police, and many other such illegal activities.
Author Biography: Joel Hendon was born near Gadsden Alabama. He attended public schools in Cherokee County, Alabama and after serving a tour of duty in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, attended Jacksonville State University, majoring in Business Administration. He became a Christian in 1948, and although he followed secular work as a career and retired from Allied Signal Aerospace, he is an avid student of the Holy Bible and related works as well as biblical history. He has an extensive website of conservative religious and political articles.http://hebronics.org/index.html

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Terry Mitchell
 178 days 6 hours ago.
93 fans.
Joel, I totally agree. You are saying in so many words some of what I've been trying to say since this whole thing broke. I hate the whole mob mentality thing, especially in the media. Mobs are always bad, in my opinion, regardless of what political issue(s) they are supporting.
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