Follow Your Gut

I've been thinking a lot about courage lately.

Interestingly enough, courage keeps coming to mind as I read everything I can find on what is being referred to as "The Penn State Scandal".

I run an organization dedicated to helping victims of child abuse. Keeping up with the topic is something I try to do everyday. The drama unfolding at State College is an interesting study in courage... or a lack thereof.

In our society we seem to suffer from a fear of getting involved. You hear about it all the time. People who won't come to the aid of a crime victim or people who won't stop to help someone who's been in an accident.

People who look the other way when they suspect someone might be suffering from abuse or neglect.

On the other side of the coin, there are many stories of individuals who jump right in to help someone - even risking their own safety to do so.

I think the underlying difference is simply courage.

Courage comes in many various forms. Usually, courage goes hand-in-hand with moral outrage.

So as I ponder the accusations against Jerry Sandusky, I wonder where the people with all the courage were?

If these accusations are true and Mike McQueary did, in fact, witness Sandusky molesting a young boy in the shower of the locker room, then where was his courage and moral outrage? He claims through an email that he stopped the attack but not physically.

Really? We all react to things differently but I have to question why a young man who obviously was in good physical condition didn't use his moral outrage to beat the crap out of Jerry Sandusky right then and there? And then remove the child from the area. And then immediately call the police.

He says he verbally stopped it and then waited until the next day to report it to Joe Peterno.

In other words, he felt the need to keep it in the family.

That is what happens with most child abuse. We can't let others know about it. We must protect the family, school, abusers, etc.

Again, if all of this is true, then Coach Paterno was also suffering from a lack of courage and moral outrage. And on up the ladder within the Penn State "family".

It takes courage to stop abuse, report abuse, speak out about abuse and beat down the abuser so he/she can't abuse again.

I don't condone falsely accusing anyone of anything. But at the end of the day, good judgement and gut instincts will usually win out.

Unfortunately, way too many people suffer from bad judgement, cowardice or both.

And kids continue to suffer because of it.