A Different Thought On the Penn State Scandal

A Different Thought About the Penn State Scandal By Elton Camp The deplorable scandal at Penn State Threatens to bring unreasonable hate A graduate STUDENT some now condemn With even death threats against him Because he saw a child under attack Many want to put him on the wrack Because he failed then to intervene To stop an act so blatantly obscene It is easy to condemn him with spite “Not to call the police wasn’t right. He should’ve done a whole lot more Like knock the old coach to the floor.” Please try to see it through his eyes Just imagine his horror and surprise That he didn’t act isn’t quite so odd Since the coach was almost like a god Football worshipers share the blame And might have even done the same It would have been easy to walk away And not single word ever come to say If he had, none ever would have known His reputation and job wouldn’t be gone Give him some credit and take a look At the action this young student took To the head coach he reported next day Imagine how hard were the words to say Because, really what could he ever do If the coach declared his account untrue The point is, don’t be so quick to condemn What if it had been you instead of him? With hindsight, his decisions he must rue But about the past there’s naught he can do (Note: I deleted and reposed this to eliminate an extremely foolish comment by a reader who obviously hadn’t read the poem carefully at all. In a university setting, a graduate student has zero power. I’m sure that the young man wishes he had done more, but he did report what he saw to the proper official when he COULD have merely walked away and said nothing. There have been a number of death threats from the super righteous people who weren’t there at the time and now want to condemn him.)