While a host of legitimate reasons exist for these victims to remain anonymous in the report, the clinical, detached ‘un-naming' of these boys, now men, mirrors what can only be called the horrifying indifference of the numerous adults who clearly knew of the abuse and did nothing to stop it. Even more repulsive is that some of them apparently covered it up.
While Joe Paterno has become the focal point of the media blitz surrounding the sickening dénouement of the child sex abuse scandal, it seems the finger of blame should rest equally on every adult involved; though it could be argued that Paterno, because of his celebrity, might well have affected swift action in bringing the abuse to light.
As a Penn State University alumna, I am both bewildered and ashamed of the students who rioted after Paterno was fired. Not only is the destruction and violence reprehensible in response to a situation where there has already been unmitigated destruction to lives, minds and souls, their rioting, while impassioned, is for all the wrong reasons.
The media has made much of then-janitor Jim Calhoun's eyewitness account of Sandusky performing oral sex on a young boy while he was pinned to the wall, in the showers in a college locker room. In the conversations I have had with friends and family in recent days, I've heard the same questions: Where is the janitor now? Why the hell didn't he do something?
In the account describing Victim 8 and his ordeal in the grand jury's report, Calhoun was quoted as having said to fellow employee Ronald Petrosky that he had “fought in the [Korean] war…seen people with their guts blowed out, arms dismembered…I just witnessed something in there I'll never forget.” Calhoun was described as being so upset that fellow employees were concerned he might have a heart attack. The report also describes that the employees were afraid if they reported the incident they would lose their jobs. Calhoun spoke with his immediate supervisor, Jay Witherite, about the incident, who told him who to report the incident to, if he chose to report it, which, inexplicably, he never did. Neither did Witherite. Calhoun, per the report, now suffers from dementia, is in a nursing home and incapable of testifying.
The Grimpen Mire of legalities that has already ensued regarding all parties involved seems to echo as nothing more than a faint closing of the door after the horse has escaped. Indeed.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda. The grand jury's report details multiple, credible reports by adult witnesses, multiple credible reports to University police, and multiple attempted interventions by the victims' parents, all to no avail.
The issue at hand transcends the boundaries of every tenet we, as an allegedly civilized society, claim governs us, not as football coaches who've won over 400 games, not as founders of charities, not as supervisors, and not as presidents of universities. As human beings.
To what can this blatant, chilling moral decay of our conscience, as a society, be attributed? On what can the willingness of so many to turn a blind eye on Sandusky's actions be blamed? Or for that matter, be merely explained?
It is frightening to conceive that greed, money, power, reputation – and, perhaps most disturbing, though it's hard to categorize what's most disturbing about the entire situation – the much lauded mystique of Penn State football, stopped so many from helping these young victims. And while, they are indeed victims, these unnamed, helpless, and once innocent young boys are so very much more. They're people.
Indifference. We, as a society condemn wars and terrorism, ignite controversy over financial inequities, clamor over presidential candidate hopefuls, same sex marriages, and illegal aliens, but it is my humble opinion that, as horrifically illustrated by this child sex abuse scandal, the growing foothold of indifference is perhaps the issue that merits; hell, demands the most immediate, and most serious attention in our society and our world. If we cannot protect our children, we have no future.
One need only look at the headlines to know the undeniable truth. A case in point is the recent death of a two-year-old girl in southern China, who was run over by two vans and ignored by eighteen passers-by, and all caught on video. While the incident sparked global condemnation and controversy, it happened. Let me repeat that. It happened.
Incomprehensible? As incomprehensible as, that even with all of our technology, with all our modern conveniences, with all of our grand, godforsaken, useless ability to communicate in a nanosecond, the dehumanization of these young children happened over a period of fifteen years?
I pray that the suffering of these young children was not in vain. Perhaps if their suffering strengthens within us our ability to listen to our hearts – for that is where I believe our conscience lies – versus our heads, and to take action, no matter how unpopular, or frightening, or whatever else forces us to step outside our comfort zone, then perhaps we can begin to crush this pervasive chill of indifference, and repair the societal pillars I fear may be crumbling.
