Playing it by ear

[trigger warning - child abuse, rape] I feel no sympathy for Joe Paterno. I feel nothing for him at all. He died at 85 years old, and for the majority of his life he was at the top of the world- a hero, a saint, an icon. A rich and powerful man, in a position of power at a rich and powerful institution, that just so happened to allow countless children to be brutalized in order to maintain it’s precious reputation and the money and power that went along with it. And he was complicit in that, no matter how much pretzel logic you use to try to excuse it away. At the very least, he was a moral coward, at worst he was a knowing enabler of the torture of children. Maybe he did have regrets, and maybe he was genuinely remorseful, but whatever personal hell he dealt with in his final months doesn’t even come close to what the children who were victimized experienced, and they are still living with it every day.

[…]

But I’m one of the lucky ones. I am unlike the millions of kids who never escape from the cycle of psychological torture and self inflicted violence- the kids and adult survivors who kill themselves, either directly or indirectly. The ones who never make it out ok.

And when they die, they don’t get photo layouts, or tributes. They are faceless. They are nameless. They are forgotten.

If you are going to grieve for anyone, grieve for them. Not Joe Paterno.