Not entirely about Penn State

There has been enough about Penn State. We’re all sick of it. But I have to say something about the plight of Penn State Students. When I try to get inside the head of a Penn State student I can’t help but see that through the lenses of myself as a young student that experienced undergraduate school at Drexel University in the 70’s.

I absolutely loved life at Drexel University. School was hard, but not always. I “studied” in the student lounge, listened to LPs of The Moody Blues, The Who, Pink Floyd, Yes, and Emerson Lake and Palmer. I read “underground newspapers”. I went to a few concerts, like Captain Beefheart at U of P’s Irving Auditorium. I could kick myself for not springing for the money to see the Beatles when they were in town. Lunch was typically a cheap meal from the broken down cheese steak truck on 32nd street. During finals I pulled the caged door shut behind me in one of the tiny little cubbyholes in the basement of the library and studied for hours. On the way to your final, it was tradition to rub the big toe of the brass water boy in the Great Court for good luck. We lounged on the quad, played volleyball, ping pong, darts, and celebrated the end of finals week at Cavanaugh’s Railroad Restaurant on Market Street.

Bad things happened too. Protests were not much of a big deal at an engineering school but I did hear of one in the 60’s. Students pulled out a fire hose to use but it fell into pieces it was so old. Having my new car stolen was not fun. A friend of mine was attacked and seriously injured leaving a dance. There was an organization next door to my TA’s apartment called “MOVE”. They washed cars to make money. Seemed like nice people. They were quiet at the time but became infamous for some terrible wars with the police a few years after I graduated.

In those days, Drexel had a reputation as a great, but boring, engineering school. In my freshman year there was an announcement that the Drexel football team would be playing their last game ever! The most common reaction was, “Oh, I didn’t know we had a football team”, which may explain their extinction.

Like me, PSU students today certainly have their traditions and are building wonderful memories to romanticize on someday.

It’s no less than tragedy what has happened at PSU. It’s terrible for the victims and the focus deserves to be on their tragedy, their recovery, and their justice. But PSU students are among the causalities too. Their college lives have been invaded.

Into the midst of their college experience came scandal, media, police, and a riot. The honor of the school they attend was damaged, and suddenly one of the keystones of their existence, Penn State Football, suffered defamation. Ultimately this is all the result of one man’s actions. Once exposed, one man’s actions had devastating, far-reaching impact in a very short time! Why?

I think it has something to do with idols. When we allow anything but God to become “Holy”, there is a problem. The worship of PSU football probably caused many to discredit any possibility of a blemish on that idol. But blemish came. The idol fell fast and hard, taking many casualties along with it. PSU students were caught in total disarray. Imagine trying to go to class that week or to study for a test when there’s a riot outside your dorm.

This is not a trivial aspect to this tragedy. Of course we must pray for the victims. But pray also for the students. Pray for PSU football. Pray for PSU administration. Pray that the memories of these students will not be permanently scarred beyond honorable recognition.

The idol of PSU football has fallen. The reputation of PSU is suffering. In time I believe it will be the sound mind and honor of individual PSU students that corporately rebuild that reputation. I am proud to see they have already begun that healing and rebuilding.

We all put things before God. We know we shouldn’t. But we do. I think that might be one definition for sin, putting something else in place of God. Pray that we all stop making and worshipping idols. Only God is Holy and deserving of our worship.

Happy Hiking, and God Bless,

- Allen