Halls of Fame are for the living. Bronze statues are for the dead.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the aura of a worshipped living human that we forget how fragile heroes are to the ongoing slaughter of anyone’s reputation from the fallout of outrageous human affair. There never should have been a statue of Jo Paterno while he still breathed the air of this often rancid planet. All he had to do was look the other way from a situation that should never have been ignored and his prematurely placed physical likeness was destined to come down. It had become a reminder of betrayal – and not a monument to trust.
And so it has. Come down. Taken down. As it should have been. Removed. Because it never should have been there in the first place.
Sadly for Joe Paterno, the penalty for not doing the right thing to the fullest degree and, perhaps, consciously or unconsciously, conspiring with others at Penn State to cover up the Jerry Sandusky violation of children until the problem “went away,” was this dismantling of the glory that previously had been wrapped around his name.
And now the innocent are thrown under the bus with the guilty. All the young people on football scholarship at Penn State that had nothing to do with the actions (or inactions) of their university, must choose between transferring elsewhere, playing for nothing, or not playing at all. Once again, life rises up to remind us that, even when the hammer of justice lands, life isn’t fair.
Tags: Joe Paterno Statue essay
The Pecan Park Eagle 
July 24, 2012 at 3:09 pm |
I do hope that, someday, the folks at Penn State will be able to recognize Joe Paterno for the great many good things he did there and put the Sandusky situation in the appropriate context.
I feel as if the nature of the crimes and the length of any cover-up was so horrific that overkill is being done now in a race to show revulsion for what happened that they are punishing even the innocent because the truly guilty aren’t available to punish further.
Penn State University paid large sums to the head football coach, the athletic director and the university president, in part, to take responsibility for the things done under their watch. Those people failed and should be punished. And they’ve all been fired. But somehow, that’s not enough.
So the NCAA is now punishing a program for violations that are nowhere in the NCAA bylaws. It’s a legal matter and should have been handled through legal channels. To anyone thinking Penn State won’t get severely punished, wait until all the civil law suits come against the university for being the crime scene for some of these incidences.
July 24, 2012 at 8:24 pm |
The Penn State / Paterno tragedy proves up an old point; that people staying too long in a position or job is not a good thing.True it is a very sad closing on a career of a once great coach and person…….
July 26, 2012 at 10:04 pm |
In this case yes the statue should have not been there while the individual was still an active coach same holds with players. I thought the Astros were a bit jumpy placing statues of Bagwell and Biggio beyond the LF entrances of MMP a few years ago.
After retirement from coaching and or playing I find it OK to do such a thing as tribute. What would the Homeplate entrance of Busch III be without Stan outside. Too bad for us Cardinal fans that Albert decided to not be the right handed offset to Stan. I think Albert will only garner one of the smaller statues down the LF entrances of Busch III when he retires.