Today I suggested a parallel between Esau's forfeiting his birthright for a meal (Genesis 25) with the officials at Penn State who forfeited justice for abused children to keep their jobs and maintain the school's reputation.
What are your thoughts on this issue? What are some important aspects of this that haven't been brought up in all the news stories?
MM
2 comments:
I can't say that I disagree with the parallels you presented. In the case of Penn State, I am still wary of everything I hear in the media. I do believe there is much that is not being disclosed. I also believe that those who did not do enough, know it and are paying a price for their decision. It's easy to get caught up in "survival" and if it doesn't affect you directly, then cover it with a bandaid and look the other way. None of those men had to spend every day with the abused children, dealing with their fears, tears and nightmares. They did enough to remove the situation from their territory and then moved on.
In the movie "The Book of Eli" there is a scene where a woman is being used as bait, then when she fails, is being beaten, etc. Eli looks the other way, keeps going and repeats to himself something like not my problem, not my problem. He had a job to do. He needed to protect the Book, not stop to rescue someone. Later in the movie, the scene repeats itself. This time he takes action. When asked about it he says, "In all these years I've been carrying it and reading it every day, I got so caught up in keeping it safe that I forgot to live by what I learned from it." The Penn State staff are not bad people. Most of the time, they made good choices. It certainly appears that this time, they didn't. They know they didn't. I haven't really heard any of them making excuses. We can only hope that our justice system will do it's job and get to the truth.
Kelly,
I disagree that "The Penn State staff are not bad people." Their choice to cover up such a heinous crime--to prioritize their jobs and the reputation of the school over abused children--is strong evidence that they are bad people.
But then, as is true for all of us in one way or another, their badness highlights the need for one greater than themselves to rescue them from it.
I realize there are different categories of evil (I think the original crimes themselves are of a different nature than the cover up.) But the basic point of our inherent falleness is important.
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