In the news the last few days, we have heard the graphic and disgusting details of the sex scandal at Penn State University in State College, PA. For anyone living under a rock, Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator for Penn State was arrested for multiple acts of deviant sexual behavior on young boys. Also caught up in the scandal were coaches and administrators from Penn State, with two officials being charged with perjury for testimony they provided to a grand jury.
Without going into the nasty details of the alleged offenses, I doubt any reasonable person could look at the situation without a high level of disgust toward Sandusky. Here's a guy who created a charity for at-risk boys, then used the charity and his connections to Penn State to take sexual advantage of young boys. I think there is a special place in hell for people like him.
But perhaps more offensive to me are the people surrounding this horrible person and how they have ducked and covered since this incident came to light. Let's start with the graduate assistant who witnessed Sandusky raping a young boy in the Penn State showers. This guy failed in the most basic way to STOP THE RAPE! I mean, come on! The graduate assistant was 28 years old and a former football player. He had the means and ability to bust in there and save the boy -- but instead ran to his office and called his daddy. It's just sickening. Then the venerable Joe Paterno is notified (the next damn day by the way) and waits another day to tell his boss. That's it. No follow up. No call to the cops. Nothing.
Paterno's boss (and his boss and the university president) then proceeded to handle the whole thing administratively. Sandusky was asked to stop bringing his victims on campus. That's it. He wasn't banned from campus. He wasn't arrested. He wasn't kicked out of his office. He continued to hold football camps at Penn State satellite campuses. He kept an office in the football area. He still worked out in the locker room. Every day, Joe Pa and the graduate assistant (now a coach at PSU) saw him hanging around and bringing kids to athletic events and they said nothing. Hell, the university even invited Sandusky to give a commencement speech in 2007.
So why do I care? Why bother writing about this? It is about doing the right thing. I have three sons and want to teach these boys to be good people. And being a good person means doing the right thing regardless of the outcome. I have to assume the people involved in this scandal are relatively intelligent folks. We are talking about university employees, administrators and even presidents. They probably have letters after their names like PHD and the like. So they aren't dumb. But why didn't their moral compass point them in the right direction?
We live in society where doing the right thing is often not rewarded. Good Samaritans are often sued for "damage" they cause in their rescue efforts. Our political leaders behave in ways that you wouldn't want to explain to your children. Bad behaviour often leads to celebrity status even for average folks.
But those behaviors started somewhere -- maybe we need to look at ourselves. Have you ever asked your child to lie about his age to get the kid's price at a restaurant or theme park? Is it okay to fudge the numbers a little on your taxes? Have you ever been charged the wrong price for something (lower) and kept that little tidbit to yourself?
It may be cliche, but having integrity means doing the right thing when no one is looking -- not just when you think you might get caught or after you get caught. In business it means providing your customers with full disclosure even when you aren't required to do so. It means selling quality products and standing behind your service -- even if it costs more to do.
I want my boys to be GOOD people -- not just people who do the minimum required of them. We should expect more of ourselves.
Without going into the nasty details of the alleged offenses, I doubt any reasonable person could look at the situation without a high level of disgust toward Sandusky. Here's a guy who created a charity for at-risk boys, then used the charity and his connections to Penn State to take sexual advantage of young boys. I think there is a special place in hell for people like him.
But perhaps more offensive to me are the people surrounding this horrible person and how they have ducked and covered since this incident came to light. Let's start with the graduate assistant who witnessed Sandusky raping a young boy in the Penn State showers. This guy failed in the most basic way to STOP THE RAPE! I mean, come on! The graduate assistant was 28 years old and a former football player. He had the means and ability to bust in there and save the boy -- but instead ran to his office and called his daddy. It's just sickening. Then the venerable Joe Paterno is notified (the next damn day by the way) and waits another day to tell his boss. That's it. No follow up. No call to the cops. Nothing.
Paterno's boss (and his boss and the university president) then proceeded to handle the whole thing administratively. Sandusky was asked to stop bringing his victims on campus. That's it. He wasn't banned from campus. He wasn't arrested. He wasn't kicked out of his office. He continued to hold football camps at Penn State satellite campuses. He kept an office in the football area. He still worked out in the locker room. Every day, Joe Pa and the graduate assistant (now a coach at PSU) saw him hanging around and bringing kids to athletic events and they said nothing. Hell, the university even invited Sandusky to give a commencement speech in 2007.
So why do I care? Why bother writing about this? It is about doing the right thing. I have three sons and want to teach these boys to be good people. And being a good person means doing the right thing regardless of the outcome. I have to assume the people involved in this scandal are relatively intelligent folks. We are talking about university employees, administrators and even presidents. They probably have letters after their names like PHD and the like. So they aren't dumb. But why didn't their moral compass point them in the right direction?
We live in society where doing the right thing is often not rewarded. Good Samaritans are often sued for "damage" they cause in their rescue efforts. Our political leaders behave in ways that you wouldn't want to explain to your children. Bad behaviour often leads to celebrity status even for average folks.
But those behaviors started somewhere -- maybe we need to look at ourselves. Have you ever asked your child to lie about his age to get the kid's price at a restaurant or theme park? Is it okay to fudge the numbers a little on your taxes? Have you ever been charged the wrong price for something (lower) and kept that little tidbit to yourself?
It may be cliche, but having integrity means doing the right thing when no one is looking -- not just when you think you might get caught or after you get caught. In business it means providing your customers with full disclosure even when you aren't required to do so. It means selling quality products and standing behind your service -- even if it costs more to do.
I want my boys to be GOOD people -- not just people who do the minimum required of them. We should expect more of ourselves.
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