A Hypothetical Scenario
No, I am not breaking a real news story but what if I was. What if I was reporting about how a man named Mike McQueary witnessed the manufacture of a WMD, weapon of mass destruction, in the football locker room, on the campus of Penn State University.
What if during my report, I told you Mr. McQueary witnessed an older man forcing a young boy to help manufacture the WMD in the shower? What if I went on to report that when the preparation of the WMD was finished the older man strapped it to the young boy and sent him out into the world where the WMD had been programmed to detonate? What if I told you that the older man repeated this bomb making procedure time and time again?
The Penn State Scandal
In the fictitious example, the WMD was designed to explode and kill the boy and potential others. However, in real life, Jerry Sandusky’s, whom I consider a WMD (Weak Misguided Dude), was the bomb manufacturer and detonator who destroyed the lives of so many young men and their families. Jerry Sandusky brought young boys onto the Penn State campus with the express purpose of forcing and coercing them to participate in an illicit, life changing and destructive activity.
When Jerry completed his task, the young boys were strapped with memories of a horrific event. Just like an atomic bomb, Jerry Sandusky’s actions continue to this day to cause collateral damage for the boys and wreak havoc on those with whom they associate.
Imagine just how different things would have been in this case if the WMD was synonymous with a weapon of mass destruction and not the Weak Misguided Dudes that seem to govern Penn State. I can’t help but believe the older man would have been arrested only moments after being noticed by Mr. McQueary.
Under no circumstances could I imagine a scenario where Mr. McQueary, a twenty-eight year old man, needing to call his daddy to find out what he should do upon seeing someone building a bomb and strapping it to a child. I do not believe Mr. McQueary would have waited for Joe Pa or any other University Administrator to thwart the potential crime. Instead, I believe Mr. McQueary would have picked up the phone called the police and the police would have been on campus to defuse the bomb and arrest the perpetrator immediately.
Mr. McQueary would be a hero today and his stature would be legendary. Instead, Mr. McQueary, Joe Paterno and so many other men associated with Penn State will now live in infamy; forever known as the cowards who put football and self promotion ahead of promoting the well-being of innocent and helpless children.
Penn State University, as we have learned recently with the investigation at Syracuse, is simply a symptom of a larger and more insidious national problem. We are a nation that says one thing but practices something different. In short, we speak with a forked tongue. We claim to care so greatly about children but we sacrifice them at the drop of a hat or football helmet in this case.
How can we as a nation be so preoccupied with protecting our “national interests” against terrorist attacks and weapons of mass destruction from rogue leaders and “third world” countries yet we have so little concern and appreciation about the real clear and present danger to our “national security”? Our greatest national interest should be the protection and well-being of our youngest citizens, our future leaders?
How many more children, their lives and the lives of those whom they love must be destroyed before we do something about the WMDs (Weak Misguided Dudes) that coach, educate, preside over our institutions and are charged with protecting and serving our communities? How many more children have to be strapped with emotional and physical bombs that destroy their lives before we protect our children the same way that we protect our other national interests, like oil?
We overthrew a government, executed a leader of another country and occupied that country for far too long under the incorrect pretext that the country and its leaders were responsible for a terrorist attack on America. Shouldn’t we go to the same limits to protect our children from WMDs, Weak Misguided Dudes that we know without a doubt are depriving our youngest citizen from ever experiencing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?