Thoughts from Not-So-Happy Valley

Today's post is not photography related. But it's something I must share, and it relates to my vision of the world around us.

With the news coming out of State College, Pennsylvania, these past several days have been very, very difficult days for my wife and I.

Words usually come fairly easy to me, but today my thoughts and sentences are trapped in a whirlpool of two primary emotions: sadness and anger.

Sadness that such horrific crimes have been (allegedly, of course) committed; sadness that they have dragged Penn State’s reputation through the mud; sadness that someone whom I believe is one of the few truly great men of our time -- Joe Paterno -- is being pulled down in the process.

Of course Paterno’s not perfect and of course he’s not without blame. But good people can and do make bad mistakes; that doesn’t (in my mind, at least) negate all the tremendous good they’ve done with the majority of their lives.

I’m not referring to Joe’s wins and losses on the football field. I’m talking about bigger things in life -- his molding and mentoring of young people, ensuring they get an education, running a clean (NCAA violation-wise) program, donating tons of money to good causes, inspiring others to overcome challenges and be the best they can be, insisting on substance over flash and values over vanity; raising a close-knit family, and believing his responsibilities as an educator and leader take precedence over his role of being just another football coach.

Mixed with my sadness is palpable anger -- anger that Sandusky’s selfish sickness could taint an entire reputation (the University’s as well as Paterno’s) and especially anger over the news media’s reaction and obvious glee in toppling someone from a pedestal they -- not he -- built. I’m much more ashamed I’ve called myself a journalist than ashamed of my loyalty towards Penn State (which, as some of you know, I didn’t attend but was instantly captured by its charms and a certain co-ed who introduced me to them).

I don’t know if you’re a Twitter follower -- I’ve unfortunately become addicted to it as my primary source of news -- but the vitriol of sports “journalists” on Twitter and the blogosphere towards Paterno has been so out of proportion to his actual role in the mess that I believe the media reaction -- not Paterno’s actions or inactions -- has been the second most criminal act next to Sandusky’s horrific behavior. Not a single one of us -- least of all the media -- knows the whole story. Not a single one of us truly knows what we would have done if we were in Paterno’s position.

But in reading the holier-than-thou coverage, you could easily believe that today’s media have sole dominion of the keys to moral certainty; that the crimes themselves were committed by Paterno, and that Sandusky was not 12 years removed from actively coaching for Paterno. Most writers and broadcasters -- 99% of whom have never met Paterno personally -- confidently assumed Paterno was motivated by the same things that motivate them: fame, money, prestige, adulation, power. It’s inconceivable to them that other less headline worthy factors -- including loyalty, trust (yes, perhaps blinded by 30 years of friendship), and a core belief in the good of mankind -- could have been involved.

This is our 20th anniversary of being PSU football season ticket holders. As usual, my wife and I will be heading to State College this weekend -- for what we always knew would be the final home game of the season…then what we thought would be Joe’s final game in the stadium he literally and figuratively built…and now what we know will be the first Penn State game without Joe’s coaching presence since five years before we were born (hint: we're members of the middle years of the Baby Boom).

We have spent many of our happiest moments attending games and tailgating with family and friends there. Absolutely due to the positive, uplifting, Penn-State-fans-are-never-strangers atmosphere Paterno and his teams fostered in that stadium, we met two of our dearest friends in the seats right behind us; they in turn introduced us to their dear family and friends, and we then introduced them to ours. Over the years, that happy confluence of seating arrangements and introductions has led directly to cherished memories of blissful tailgates, other Centre County adventures, weekend road trips, a European vacation, the founding of a virtual Fantasy Football community we call the Happy Valley Athletic Conference, and so much more.

Last home game, we helped a group of PTSD-suffering veterans from the local VA hospital to attend -- simply to thank them for their service and share the unforgettable experience of attending a Penn State football game (for most of the vets, it was their first). Joe Paterno’s living example of selfless outreach inspired us to do that. When we helped a different group of disabled vets last year, they saw a dramatic come-from-behind PSU victory and Joe’s historic 400th career win. This year, the vets saw another dramatic come-from-behind victory and Joe’s historic 409th -- and, now we know, final – win that gave him the most ever in Division 1 college football.

I’d like to think God had something to do with the incredible, almost surreal outcomes of those two games.

I’d like to think He was doing it for the vets, perhaps even for Joe, knowing what was to come.

And I’d like to think and pray God is listening to my following appeal:

May our children and their children be safe, may truth be the ultimate national champion, may sadness and anger wash away, may justice prevail here on earth as well as in heaven, and -- despite all the unimaginable events of this past week -- may our Valley be Happy once more.