What about collateral damage?

Jerry Sandusky is now a convicted pedophile/child molester. The evidence presented in the courtroom was overwhelming, and Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in prison. The public will be spared his behavior.

Sandusky was a very successful football coach. His immoral and criminal behavior and his soiled reputation have rubbed off on others with whom he worked. First and foremost was his boss and longtime friend Joe Paterno, one of America’s most successful, honored and trusted college football coaches.

At first, Paterno successfully distanced himself from Sandusky and claimed ignorance of what was transpiring. When he was informed of Sandusky’s transgressions, he claims that he reported the information to his superiors at Penn State and felt that his responsibility had been fulfilled.

Joe died, and now the other shoe has fallen. An independent investigation led by very responsible people have revealed that Joe not only knew what was going on, for more than 10 years he and other university officials hid and covered up what they knew had happened. Speculation about motives are rampant, but the facts are difficult to deny. Joe Paterno was an accomplice of the whole debacle.

Sandusky is in prison. Paterno is dead. Others who have been implicated will rightly face some sort of penalty. I have no problem exposing the extent of the scandal and the assessing of appropriate penalties. Further, the men who as children were abused by Sandusky should receive appropriate help. The goal ought to be the making whole of everyone who was damaged in any way.

Now enters the self-righteous sports pundits. Almost immediately after the release of the independent investigation led by former FBI director Louis Freeh, sports commentators started spouting their indignations. A column by Washington Post writer Jason Reid caught my eye. I read his column with disgust. He is calling for a complete shutdown of the football program at Penn State. In an explosion of righteous indignation, he called for an expansion of NCAA rules to accommodate massive destruction of the Penn State athletic programs with no regard for the consequences of his pronouncements.

I confess that I read the column through the eyes of the teachings of Jesus, the rabbi from Nazareth. I recognize fully that the United States is not a Christian nation; rather, our country is a nation of law. Our national ethic calls on people to obey laws. NCAA has rules by which it regulates college sports. No one in power positions in the NCAA is obligated to listen to our Christian ethic. That does not mean that the current Penn State episode cannot be informed by Christian teaching.

Jesus warns us all about jumping into the judgment game. “Judge not, for the judgment you give is the judgment you will get.”

Within 24 hours of reading Reid’s column, I watched an interview of NBC sports broadcaster Bob Costas. I have always liked Costas and respected his opinions. The subject of the interview was the Penn State-Sandusky-Paterno scandal. Costas also jumped on the “get tough” bandwagon. Again I was disappointed to hear judgment with little or no regard for restoration. Bob was losing me.

Jesus did not believe that punishment ever restored anyone to health and wholeness. This is his central argument with the world to this very day. He called for justice and healing. His passion was for healing and wholeness for everyone.

Costas then made his most telling statement of the interview: “Of course, there will be collateral damage.”

The transgressions of Sandusky against a long list of young boys were not transgressions only against the boys he molested. They were transgressions against his wife, his family, his coaching colleagues, the families of the boys involved and an entire university. They represent the collateral damage of Sandusky’s behavior. That collateral damage has already taken its toll on everyone who surrounded him.

Now the punishers are bowing down to the same dynamic. The Jason Reids of this world call for punishments that leave extensive collateral damage in their wake. Football at almost every major American University is big business. Football at Penn State is no different. Football at Penn State is big business. At a university like Penn State, football is very profitable and is the source of funds for many athletic programs at the university that are money losers. If football at Penn State is shuttered, hundreds of innocent student athletes will be collateral damage. Dozens and dozens of faithful employees of Penn State athletics will lose their jobs. Reid and Costas apparently do not care. These employees are just collateral damage. Ticket takers, ushers, venders, custodians and maintenance workers lose their income. There are waves of people who will be negatively impacted.

No matter, they are just collateral damage.

All too little is ever said about the dynamics of collateral damage. Simply stated, collateral damage is the suffering of innocent people because of the bad behavior of others. Jerry Sandusky produced waves of collateral damage. To respond to his transgressions with harsh judgments against the university that produce more collateral damage is not very smart.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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