I*** One huge tragic flaw that I have as a writer is that I never remember the urgency associated with getting thoughts out there as they pertain to current events. I realize everyone has probably moved on to the next big scandal that I am at this very moment failing to realize I should be writing about, but as far as I am concerned, it is never too late to think about ways to fix what is broken in society. Thus my thoughts on Penn State are below:
I read an article a few months ago about memory—specifically how it is becoming less valuable in the technological age. Why would I commit anything to memory when the answers to all of life questions are readily at my fingertips?
Memorize my spouse’s phone number? That’s my phone’s job.
Remember my appointments? Calendar’s Job.
Scripture memorization? No need, I have the Bible App.
In a sense, when we relinquish these sorts of mundane controls in our lives we affirm that we cannot be bothered to think for ourselves. But I would suggest that when we remove ourselves from these processes it is not merely an intellectual detachment but an emotional one as well. This might be sacrilege to a technology worshipping generation, but I believe there is a correlation between these micro-detachments in our individual lives and a similar group detachment which occurs when we often and absent-mindedly relinquish moral reasoning to institutions and policies. The rationale is that those outside forces: human resources, the board, the legislators will think about issues more comprehensively than an individual would and will thus know more and know better.
I believe that is some of what we have been hearing about over the past few weeks with regard to the tragedy unfolding at Penn State University. Pennsylvania has laws about reporting child abuse and one assumes that the University has reporting policies and procedures as well. These policies are meant to be a help—to make things more clear, efficient and systematized. So why does it seem that these systems so demonstrably failed to protect the children within their care?
They failed because institutions and laws though not inherently evil do not have souls. They create bare minimum or lobbied responses to complicated and complex issues, and just as we have allowed machines to do our remembering for us we are allowing policies to do our reasoning for us. I have overheard and solicited a great deal of response to the happenings at Penn State and as always what surprises me most is the number of people who are self-righteously assured that this sort of thing could never have happened on their watches. They could be right. But I suppose, I just don’t see that way of thinking as particularly helpful in times like these.
What if we were to assume that every alarming story that we see in the news is from Jonathan and we are each David. We are "the man" in the story and rather than wasted energy used to judge we must find ourselves in the tale and determine how we got there! Maybe we are not the coach who allegedly perpetuated this abuse, but for a moment can we see ourselves as the graduate assistant, the janitor, the friend and colleague? If we want to see change, we must let down our defenses and assume that we might have, could have, and would have behaved in similar ways.
I know for certain that at times I have let the State of Texas make a decision for me when my gut, my education or Jesus Christ would have been a better consultant. But in those instances I have wanted to take the smallest amount of action that would get me in the least amount of trouble and allow me to think the shortest amount of time about something that made me uncomfortable. I don’t think I am the only one.
That said, I do not mean to belittle the mistakes, failures and evil that surrounds this case. To the contrary it makes me so sick that I desire to engage to the fullest extent possible to be proactive in disallowing stories like this to continue to exist. These are a few ways I think we can be a part of the solution:
1. We must acknowledge and embrace power and responsibility. Spiderman’s Uncle was right about it and so was Jesus: To whom much is given, much is expected. This does not just mean money. It means age, influence, strength, talents, abilities, education and preferential treatment based on race, gender, socioeconomic status or anything else. Because we live in such a powerful and resourced country many of us are blinded to our own power but we all have some. We have to own it rather than ignore it and use it rather than abuse it.
2. We must develop and embrace empathy and collectivism. I am sorry if that offends any patriotic sensibilities but I am hard-pressed to find scripture that supports a “just do what is best for you” mentality. Instead, I read, “share all your belongings”, and “always put other before yourself”. We do an especially poor job of encouraging selfless behaviors from men and instead promote gender-specific vision, ambition and drive as the overarching characteristics a man should strive to obtain. None of those qualities are horrible but left unsupplemented by other characteristics that are traditionally regarded as feminine, we raise a whole segment of the population to be primarily self-serving.
3. We must demonstrate courage to go beyond or against what is simply required. It makes me sad when my friends no longer care to memorize my phone number but it makes me livid when my fellow citizens no longer care to think for themselves. No one can do my thinking and feeling for me and if I let them do so because I am scared, uncertain or lazy I put myself and others at risk, because I have personal experiences and professional ethics and spiritual guidance that institutions do not have. We need programs and policies and procedures. They are good protections for a species who left to our own devices will often choose poorly. But more than any of those other things we need people--people who break the mold, display valor, rock the boat and are fervent not in the absence of but despite their own fears and fragility.
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