"Bye, Joe."

Saturday night I caught a headline that the Paterno family was preparing for the imminent death of the family patriarch and college football coaching legend, Joe Paterno. My immediate thought was, "I'm sorry the death wasn't slower and more painful". Luckily thoughts aren't recorded for posterity, unless I post those thoughts on my blog.

source: Wikipedia

My vindictiveness stems from Paterno's actions (or lack of same) regarding his former assistant and accused child-raper Jerry Sandusky. Luckily for me time leads to perspective. When Paterno's death was reported on Sunday morning, I realized the world was no better or no worse minus Joe Paterno. I was able to empathize with his family for their pain of loss. Amid a sea of questions (I am troubled by the apparent inability to question by Paterno's legions of supporters) one huge question continues to circle in my mind.

Who is the bigger monster, Sandusky or Paterno? I do not suggest any form of clemency for Sandusky but at some level he doesn't understand that child rape is wrong. Paterno, however is lauded for being a role model and shaper of men. As someone praised for teaching strength, values and decisions Paterno failed to scream about Sandusky the raper from the highest Pennsylvania mountain or at the very least ban Sandusky from the Penn State football facilities. The greater burden falls to Paterno, but who is the bigger offender?

My Worlds, Revisited.

It's time to check in on some previous posts:

It's A Small World.

The last day of November I posted about my 2 year anniversary on Twitter. I mentioned tribes I joined and tribes into which I was adopted. The first tribe that adopted me was Hollis Thomases #HTArmy (I've never seen the reference without the hashtag) and being new to Twitter at the time, I have a special fondness for the first group to include me. So, I'm reading Gary Vaynerchuk's "The Thank You Economy" (my plans for 2012 include reading and reviewing a book a month and this is my first selection) last night and on page 96 Vaynerchuk gives an example of social media influencing business, involving Rachel Levy, a Boston marketing and social media professional. I know Rachel as @bostonmarketer from the #HTArmy (yup, the hashtag is a must). I haven't connected with Rachel since last Movember when she was sporting a great Movember 'stache. I thought it was cool to see Rachel in the book. It also gave my a reminder to put her blog in my reader and say, Hi Rachel.

It's A Sick World.

I have posted twice about the morass of amorality that is the Penn State football program with a third post being drafted. That third post was questioning the lack of criticism from athletic officials of other universities because Penn State was enabling child rape. I understand "Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones", but what is going on in a university glass house that stops officials from throwing stones at enablers of child rape? Sadly, I have my answer. Syracuse Univeristy has the same problem as Penn State. ESPN is also equally comfortable with abusers of children. ESPN sat on a phone call confession tape from the child abuser's wife for 9 years. As brought up by Chicago sports talkers Boers and Bernstein, ESPN is owned by Disney. My moral outrage amplifier is so far beyond eleven I can barely hear myself think.

It's A Wonderful World.

I posted in early November about social media go-getter Margie Clayman taking some time away from social media. Some really bad things had happened in Margie's SM world and the joy of SM had gone away for Margie. I haven't asked Margie, so what follows is merely conjecture: Margie appears to have found her response to the bad. Margie's posts on her blog and at 12 Most all center on the good that can be accomplished through social media. Margie seeks out the good in the world anyway, so that makes her recent series of posts double good. Take some time to read Margie's latest posts. It's time well spent.

Finally, thanks for spending a few minutes reading my little blog. Feel free to use the comment section as your personal podium. We're heading towards the winter holidays. Enjoy the beauty of the season.

The Value Of Your Soul.

Thursday posts are usually reserved for ROL (Return On  Life). ROL is about making small incremental changes to lifestyle that disproportionately increase QOL (Quality Of Life). There is nothing incremental about identifying the value of your soul.

source: Wikipedia

Please Stop Calling It Happy Valley.

Apparently, there has been a whole lot of horrible involved with Penn State University for a very long time. In case you've been in a cave (without access to the internet) former assistant football coach and honored faculty member Jerry Sandusky has been serial raping young boys for well over a decade. Various administration members, faculty members and employees of Penn State were aware of the rapes, yet no one did enough to stop the sexual assault of children. The tip of the iceberg is revealed in the Grand Jury report.

Heroes Victims And Villains.

The list of people not doing enough to stop child rape is just being written. I doubt that list will ever be complete as is the list of lives ruined by decades of callous indifference. I have a bubbling cauldron of anger, confusion and righteous indignation. I don't need anyone's cauldron of the same to add to my cauldron and I will return the courtesy.

Many involved with this catastrophe either whispered "danger" or stayed silent for fear of loss or in hope to gain. Fear of loss or hope to gain is the same reason.

Plan Ahead.

I don't consider myself a person that cannot be bought. No one has yet reached my price. As we all move through life we face decisions that challenge our self value. Sometimes these decisions are small and simple. Other times these decisions are large and complex. Sometimes decisions we thought small and simple turn out to be large and complex. It's important to know exactly what we all stand for and specifically what we will trade off before critical decisions force us to either act or turn away. If the people that enabled Jerry Sandusky pondered their self-valuation, perhaps there would be a whole lot less ruined lives in State College, PA.

How do you value your self? What conversations or processes do you have in place to help make decisions?

To Everything, There Is a Season.

Once in a great while a blog post stands up and smacks a blogger in the face. Such is the case today.

A Little Help From A Friend.

On Saturday, I found an unexpected surprise in my Google Reader. Margie Clayman had posted and I had not expected to hear from Margie quite so soon. The essence of Margie's post on Saturday was finding a time, place and comfort level to call out when things aren't right. Picking a spot to criticize, complain or condemn can be challenging. Sometimes the best time to scream foul is right now.

In The News...

Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator for Penn State and coach Joe Paterno has been indicted for sexual abusing minors. Sandusky retired from coaching in 1999 but as a member of the Penn State "family" had access to all facilities. Sandusky also was involved with the Second Mile, a group home Sandusky founded for wayward boys. In 2002, a graduate assistant reported he found Sandusky assaulting a 10 year old boy in the locker room shower. The grad assistant reported the incident to Coach Paterno, who in turn passed the report along to the Penn State athletic director. Following a three year investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General, Sandusky was indicted on November 4, 2011 and subsequently arrested on November 5, 2011. The indictment includes 40 counts of sexual crimes committed against young boys. On Saturday when asked about Sandusky, Coach Paterno said "...I did what I was supposed to...".

Trust and Leadership.

College coaches and their assistant coaches go into homes across America and tell parents, "playing (fill in sport) at (fill in university) is more than just playing sports. It's about learning to lead and learning to be an adult. You can trust me with your child." So what do college coaches across the country say about Jerry Sandusky? So far nothing. To be honest, Paterno's quote talked about taking responsibility for being "fooled" along with scores of professionals. The lesson of leadership requires that Paterno quit today, either for being complicit in a cover up or being ignorant of what was going on in his (he's the HEAD COACH) locker room. More importantly,  college coaches across the country need to (back to the beginning of the post) call for Joe Paterno's resignation. College coaches need to reach beyond the fraternity/sorority/alliance of coaching and show leadership. College coaches need to show parents across the nation that their program is really about more than sports. College coaches now need to prove that they can be trusted. And the time to show leadership and earn trust is today.

What do you think? Don't tell me Sandusky is beyond a creep, that's obvious. How would you feel as a parent if your child is being recruited? How would you feel if your child played sports at Penn State or any other university in the last 15 years? How do you feel about the resounding silence from college athletics across the country?