Penn State and Joe Paterno

Here are my thoughts on the matter. I don’t particularly care whether the state of Pennsylvania, or any state for that matter, doesn’t consider it a crime that you don’t report child abuse. For my money, if you see a crime being perpetrated on another human being, it is your moral duty to report it to the proper authorities, i.e., the police. Even if the terms of your employment state that you report it to your superiors, I would be making that call while on the way to the police station. If the employer tells you it will be handled internally, tell them that if they demand that you not report the crime, you will see to it that every newspaper in the country gets the story, and that they will be held complicit in the crime.

No decent human being should tolerate the covering up of such heinous behavior. Reporting to your superiors does not absolve you of moral responsibility. I think of that poor child, being raped in that Penn State locker room. He should have been immediately taken to the hospital for treatment, counseling, and collection of evidence. Instead, he has had to live with the mental anguish of that and other incidents perpetrated on him by Jerry Sandusky…for years! It will be a miracle if the boy is ever mentally “right” again. How many more boys were similarly abused because Sandusky was free to abuse. That would not have happened if he was in jail.
  
Everyone at Penn State that saw or was told must therefore be considered complicit. It is a shame that Joe Paterno was as reluctant to become involved as everyone else. They all deserve punishment, but no punishment will be as physically or mentally painful as the abuse those little boys endured. 

Shame on all of you.