Joe Paterno, Legacy and You

Photo by Dishwab (Creative Commons)

Joe Paterno.

At this moment, not many other names bring up such an emotional, raw response.

As a parent, part of me wants to say terrible things about Paterno.

I want to say that he enabled Jerry Sandusky to abuse kids, to harm the innocent.

Joe Paterno was larger than life at Penn State, and he did nothing to remedy the situation.

A huge part of me wants to say all accomplishments on the football field do not matter.

For most of us, football is not what we live for;  football is a fun distraction on weekends or a fun past time.

But Joe Paterno lived for football.  He died only 2 months after being fired.

Is this his legacy?

A coach who won lots of games and enabled a sexual predator?

I sincerely hope not.

Joe Paterno inspired and helped many kids.

He did change many lives for the better.

It is really easy to judge others.

I know I was semi-judgemental a few lines above, but please hear me out:

focus on yourself.

You can’t change things or lead others until you focus on yourself first.