Tear Down Paterno's Statue

In light of the latest and  the indifference of Penn State president Spanier, football coach Paterno and others who failed to report the sexual abuse of children, I ask, where was the compassion for these children who were systematically abused under the disguise of a charity that raked in millions of dollars of donations by people of goodwill who thought that they were helping children in need when in fact, a monster was at the center of the same charity molesting children for more than 10 years.

What happened to decency and the compassion element we all feel for another human being in need?  I am, to say the least, disillusioned by the number of people at Penn State who like Pilate, washed their hands allowing the abuse to continue uninterrupted for years. 

Today, the more I learn about the number of children who were abused, I am saddened and disillusioned but, mostly, I am ashamed because as an Italian, I cannot believe that one of my own race was so indifferent when children were being abused.

Mr. Paterno, unlike my own father, and many other caring Italians cared more about himself, his job and his football team rather then the children who were being molested at the hands of a disturbed human being.

Joe Paterno’s action or shall we say, “his silence” in the matter is deplorable and by doing so, disappointed a lot of people but, most importantly, he hurt innocent children in the process. He is a skinless individual not fit to receive the accolades people reserve for him because of his status as a successful football coach.

By his actions in the Sandusky’s scandal, Mr. Paterno disgraced everyone connected with Penn State and people every where who believe in him.  He let
everyone down by not doing the right thing. Paterno memory should be erased from people's minds and his statue at Penn State should come down immediately because he does not deserve to be honored in such a way.

Had Paterno acted morally and ethically, today some of those children would have been spared the ordeal of a sexual abuse at the hands of a degenerate who took advantage of innocent children.

Joe Paterno was a winning college football coach for many years but where it counted most, the human condition, he failed and failed miserably. A real shame for someone who had the seeds of greatness within him and lost it all because he was more concerned about himself than the people who depended on him for support and guidance.

Today, because of Mr. Paterno, the feeling of betrayal is everywhere; the innocent children feel betrayed, Italians everywhere feel betrayed; the alumni of Penn State feel betrayed and people throughout this country feel betrayed.

But what concerns me most in this national scandal of the century, is the fact while all this is going on, people in the media continually tried to explain the failings of these Penn State’s individuals, Spanier, Paterno and others as being psychologically impaired. They point out that these people and there were many, failed to report the sexual abuse of children due to psychological factors beyond their control.

They opine that among other things, these people lacked the proper ethical training to assess and report what they saw to the authorities. But, lack of training is at this point in time, just another excuse especially for Mr. Spanior who himself was a trained family therapist and a sociologist by trade. His profession was first and foremost to help people in need. Paterno who had been the coach for more than 40 years and was the heart and soul of Penn State football is another who failed in his duty and responsibility to report the crime and should have known better than to allow the continual solicitation and abuse of children.

Unfortunately, both Penn state president Spanior and football coach Paterno failed to do what was required of them in fact, from the president on down to a university janitor, no one reported what was happening with these children at the hands of this perverted and immoral individual by the name of Jerry Sandusky.

What happened? Why was it that no one saw the need to report this kind of indecent behavior that was being perpetrated on these young children? What was at work that caused all these people to remain silent for more than 10 years? Was it loyalty? Was the fear of loosing millions of dollars in charity donation a factor? After all, it was the same Sandusky who headed the “Second Mile” charity foundation to help troubled youngsters.

Ironically, it was the same foundation that let these children down by not acting
responsibly and appropriately when it became evident that Sandusky was using the same charity he founded to abuse these kids.

Whatever the motivation, these people failed and failed miserably because had they done what they were supposed to do, children  could have been spared the ordeal.

I believe because of the systematically silence of everyone at Penn State, the university should receive the death penalty by the NCAA because what happened cannot be tolerated.  The cost for such behavior should be memorable and should  send a clear message to all universities that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated in the future.