Penn State and The Code

The Penn State punishments have been given.  What will be the result – five, ten, twenty, or 100 years from now?  It’s easy to speculate on the short term damage – the next ten years or so, but harder to know what the long term effect will be.  Will this change the character of sports?  What do you think?  The answer lies within each of us, which is why the more important question is “will it change you?”   The temptation to make the wrong choice, to do the wrong thing, or as in the present case to do nothing will always be with us.  As children we first face the choice of whether to “tell on” someone.  Doing so is not well regarded by many.  As we grow older we have some choices between “good and evil,” but we have many more choices in the gray area that lies between.  Joe Paterno must have thought he was in a gray area between what was right and what was in the best interest of his program.  Sport will only change when we have the courage to do what is right all the time.  So, the answer lies within.  The Code for Living says, “I will display caring and honorable behavior…”  It’s up to each of us, every day, all our lives.