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Two Stories, Two Responses.
The news recently has had two stories with inappropriate sex as the fundamental issue, one being Herman Cain being accused by multiple women of overt and unwanted advances, the other of Joe Paterno and his not doing enough when he learned of the abuse of a young boy. I find myself reflecting on my own responses to these stories.
I want Herman Cain to be guilty. I consider myself to be middle of the road politically but admit to being very anti conservative so when I hear of Mr. Cain’s alleged behavior, I hope it is true so that he will not be the nominee. (My apologies to the women who had to endure his rude behavior). I am quick to point out that not one but 5 women have similar tales of his transgressions. I am quick to give credibility to his accusers. I find myself listening to the news to hear when the next woman will come forward.
I do not want Joe Paterno to be guilty. I have admired the way he has run a (as far as I can tell) a clean program at Penn State. He has always stressed winning with honor and not winning at any price. His players have almost always displayed sportsmanship. He has been a class act. So I try to figure out some way that he reacted correctly when he was told of the terrible actions of one of his assistant coaches. I want to believe that Joe didn’t believe the graduate student that told him, that Joe assumed the student had misinterpreted what he had seen, that Joe believed that his long time assistant coach couldn’t possibility had done something like that, that it is a tribute to Joe that he reported the accusations to the Athletic Director because he really didn’t believe them but knew he had to and did. I really don’t want to believe that Joe really knew and did so little.
Perhaps I should take the Bible’s advice and “Judge Not” but I am human will make a judgment on them anyway. Perhaps I should wait and judge the character of these men on how they respond to their situations. After all, I don’t know for sure that what I hear through the media is accurate. Will they react by blaming others for their situation? Will they deny they did anything wrong? Will they admit they could and perhaps should have done things differently.? Stay tuned, their stories are still being written.
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