The recent sex abuse crisis facing Penn State reveals a glaring weakness in the entire Penn State enterprise: lack of courage. Courage was contained to a 50x120 yard piece of turf.
I've been trying to figure out what compels someone who has witnessed a grown man sodomizing a 10 year-old boy to do virtually nothing. And then for other people to get the same reports, claim to have done something, but in the end, with no follow through, have also done virtually nothing.
I think it's all because of 'Joe Pa.' I mean more than the man - the legend and all that surrounds it and defines Penn State. To believe that reporting this kind of crime when it happened would somehow have tarnished 'Joe Pa' is lack of courage. To not follow through after a poor response by your boss is a lack of courage (albeit - progressively more courage required).
To report the crime when it happened would not have tarnished the reputation of anyone except the accused. This is not the kind of thing you can find out when you interview someone for a job. It's deviant behavior that perpetrators work hard to hide.
To keep this dirty little secret for so long really meant that everyone became to know. An entire 'system' became infected with lack of courage. Outward appearances became only a facade.
Time to see The Wizard.
