2. Where there's smoke, there's fire. As I said, I don't know exactly what happened there. But having read the Grand Jury report, it is clear that multiple somethings happened. That Sandusky maintains his innocence in the face of so much fire tells me he has no shame. I'm sure he'll get what he deserves and that emotionally he is already getting that and so much more. We create our own hell, and he's in it.
3. That also means that there's fire in terms of what those in power did NOT do. While it is unclear in many cases who knew how much when, it is quite clear from the entire picture that a very well thought of coach suddenly retired a year after a major event happened. And he never was rumored for any other jobs anywhere. People knew. And no one, it seems, did the right thing. The right thing in this case is to expose a pedophile and protect other children from acts of sexual violence against them.
4. From reading the report, what emerges is a picture of not just a pedophile, but a bully. Sandusky was extremely aggressive in his pursuit of those boys, and used physical dominance in the form of play to get them to do what he wanted them to do. I sometimes feel the smallest bit of sadness for pedophiles, people who feel drawn to these despicable acts. I feel none of that for this bully. He knew what he was doing, and he was blatant and cunning about it, going so far as to form a charity to help at-risk youth that appears to have been no more than a feeding ground for his pedophilia.
5. Never allow your children to sleep over at the home of a grown man you don't know EXTREMELY well. It's just too risky. I don't have children of my own, but I have nephews and nieces. It is quite clear to me that I would not permit any of them to sleep anywhere where there weren't other children and at least one parent I fully trusted.
6. This should go without saying, but as the guy who writes about gays in football, this is NOT a situation about gays in football. Jerry Sandusky was not gay; he's a pedophile. Sex with children or either gender is outside the bounds of homosexuality or heterosexuality. So even though he's married, I will not call him heterosexual. He's a child molester. End of story.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims. Sometimes the therapy called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprogramming) can be helpful for those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I hope that Penn State will help in making sure that these boys get all the help they need so that they can live normal or close-to-normal lives. The pain that we don't deal with is what kills us inside.
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