January 23, 2012
by aneeltrivedi
I’ll admit, when I heard that Joe Paterno passed away, my first reaction was sarcastic, scornful, and mean spirited. Sandusky’s crimes, committed under Paterno, are among the most heinous imaginable, and Paterno’s inaction, in my mind, tells us more about his character than anything else he did in his 85 years on this earth.
Yet, after reconsidering, I believe there’s room for forgiveness.
But why we forgive is important.
Should we forgive because he won 409 college football games? Many seem to think so. I’ve heard a lot said about his accomplishments, his legacy, and his commitment to one institution. As if we should forgive because of Paterno’s place among college football coaches.
I firmly reject this line of thinking. Success does not make one any more or less worthy of forgiveness. If so, where’s the line? What if he won just 200 games? Or 100? Or 1? What if he jumped from team to team, coaching for whatever institution paid him the most money? What if he was “just” a professor instead of a football coach? (Please imagine my huge over-the-top eye roll here.)
Perhaps we should forgive because Paterno’s “good” list is longer than his “bad”? Paterno helped hundreds, probably thousands of young men. The few boys hurt by Sandusky while Paterno looked away shouldn’t just negate all that good, should they?
I reject this line of thinking as well. The children raped by Sandusky are destroyed. Their families are destroyed. From their perspective, no amount of “good” could tip the scales back in Paterno’s favor. The “bad” is immeasurable. We should not forgive because Paterno’s good outweighs the bad, as it most certainly does not.
So then, instead of forgiving Paterno because of what sets him apart, we must consider that he should be forgiven for what makes him like us. He is man, with a history, a story, and a unique set of struggles. His value is found outside his accomplishments, failures, good and bad deeds. He is a man (lovingly created by God in my opinion), and there is tremendous value in that alone.
If we can try to forgive Paterno for who he is, and not because of his accomplishments, then maybe we can begin to offer the same grace towards other less famous and less successful men and women…. and that would be a legacy of JoPa’s worth remembering and honoring.
Saving Grandma: A Novel by Frank Schaeffer
