A TOUGH WORD, LEGACY!

A TOUGH WORD, LEGACY! (Frazer Chronicle)

I'm reading an article from FoxSports.com with regards to Joe Paterno, the legendary football coach late of Penn State and I wonder, I mean, I really wonder what some people are even talking about. A processional to honor "Joe Pa," a fired and humiliated 85 year old man who didn't know when to quite and keep his mouth shut.....and when to shout, to let people know of an injustice.

Legacy is a word like many in the English language with different meanings from gift, to computer science, to jurisprudence. The word can be comical to bizarre to completely misunderstood and can be used to briefly explain a person's life and their deeds and miss-deeds.

It seems as if, to some, Joe Paterno, head football coach gave off the impression that "all was well with the world, and that everything was just fine and dandy in Happy Valley." People fed off of that perception, that gift that Joe Paterno had. I never met Joe Paterno in my life, yet I know this about the man, he was positive, in his profession, he had to be.

I also have absolutely no doubt that Joe Paterno, the football coach, helped hundreds of student athletes gain a foothold on becoming a fully developed person.....not a man, but more important, a person. That to was a gift and one I'm sure he gladly shared with every player he came into contact with.

I have heard that Paterno was also a caring and sharing person who, during his time at Penn State donated millions of dollars to the institution. That also was a gift that he had, and that he shared with the college and the people in his life.

That is all part of the Paterno legacy, but like I said at the beginning of this blog, "legacy is a  word with many meanings." Sadly Joe Paterno the man, the football coach couldn't live up to his own standards, and in 2002, after a period of silence, Joe Paterno the man, the father needed to go over everybody's head and talk directly to Jerry Sandusky and give the man 24 hours to turn himself into the authorities for what he had done.

"Joe Pa" never did that, nor did the graduate assistant coach who first told Paterno of the incident. In the Happy Valley world that Joe Paterno helped create, that emission would never have happened, would never have been tolerated. The Jerry Sandusky's of the world simply did not exist in Happy Valley, according to the "Book by Paterno."

But they do exist and did exist and it is painfully clear now that Joe Paterno, the man was ill equip to deal with the situation in any way. He simply told a superior and walked away, this man with the power of  a God, this man among men, he walked away.

In so doing, "this walking away," he allowed a scum bag to carry on his vile activity with young boys, to virtually destroy the lives of countless others. Legacy.....ya, it's a word with several meanings and the final chapter of the "Book by Paterno" stinks with the odor of decaying unkempt principles that were not kept since 2002. Legacy's aren't supposed to sink and the man associated with the stench is not supposed to be honored.