The Minority Opinion, Sadly

I love football. I’m the type of overbearing, loud, cursing, drunk fan at many games that central Pennsylvania breeds out in what seems like thousands. I’m sure many of my friends can attest for the fact that I’ve literally been driven to tears over PSU football, punched holes in walls, screamed for an hour out of excitement, etc. but at the end of the day it’s JUST football.

Erickson agreed to these sanctions and it is without a doubt completely fair. When a sport comes before the safety of children, something about that entire institution has to change. I keep reading posts that my fellow alumni are writing and all I continuously see is how outsiders “just don’t understand” and that “the current players shouldn’t be punished.” Well, last time I checked, I went to Penn State for an education, not to join some ludicrous cult in which morality is thrown out the window over a game.

I’m quite confused as to why I even have to be writing this article as of now: surely after this entire fiasco transpired we would have learned. Learned that no one is without fault: learned that any rallying point that could evoke such a blatant negligence of abuse of defenseless children is wholly unhealthy: learned that the deification of any individual will lead to absolute power in which the “system must be preserved at all costs.”

Of course these sanctions essentially have nothing to do with the current players, but of course it’s a logical and legitimate course of action that must be done. This is an unprecedented case that will forever change Penn State, hopefully now in a positive manner, but I’m feeling almost embarrassed for the rash opinions offered by some of my fellow alumni. Remember, it’s not a stadium or a coach that will make you have a positive affect on the world, it’s the lessons you learned in the classroom and from your fellow classmates that will.

I will forever be proud to wear the blue and white because of the great education I secured as well as the great friends I made (oh yeah, let’s be honest here, we easily have the hottest girls in the country, come on now), but I hope everyone saying this isn’t fair can take a step back from the situation and look at this from an unbiased, logical view, in which the victims are the number one priority in understanding why this happened.

There is a day to be proud to be from Penn State, but for the sake of our great school, morality, and most importantly, the victims, today is not that day. Say a prayer for them if that is an action you deem appropriate: give the last few dollars on your paycheck to a charity against child abuse: sit in a park and write something down that will invoke a response to get the majority back on the right side of this entire situation, but I beg you, do not make an issue about how “unfair” it is that our football program suffers.

When dealing with human life, specifically child abuse, nothing and I mean NOTHING can ever remedy the horrific damage incurred. However, if giving money to these charities helped to prevent even one future case of child abuse, I would be fully satiated with how that money was spent.

As a recent Penn State Graduate I can definitely say “I know how it is,” and right now, I’m feeling ashamed that so many former and current Penn State students really do not “know how it is.”