Penn State & A Generation’s Failed Leadership
Thomas Day’s Washington Post op-ed, titled “Penn State, my final loss of faith,” hit me harder than anything I’ve read in a long time. Day introduces himself and his article like this:
I’m 31, an Iraq war veteran, a Penn State graduate, a Catholic, a native of State College, acquaintance of Jerry Sandusky’s, and a product of his Second Mile foundation.
And I have fully lost faith in the leadership of my parents’ generation.
Day then writes a blistering critique of our political leaders, Church leadership, and of course the failed leadership at Penn State. He later writes:
They have had their time to lead. Time’s up. I’m tired of waiting for them to live up to obligations.
Think of the world our parents’ generation inherited. They inherited a country of boundless economic prosperity and the highest admiration overseas, produced by the hands of their mothers and fathers. They were safe. For most, they were endowed opportunities to succeed, to prosper, and build on their parents’ work.
For those of us in our 20s and early 30s, this is not the world we are inheriting.
As witnessed by more than 500 comments and this enlightening Q&A the Washington Post arranged three days later, Day hit upon something that many young people are thinking: something is very wrong with the world and the way our parents’ generation are leading.
All I can say is: let’s do better.
(P.S. here’s a great way to start. Check out my friend’s post “Millions of Stories like Penn State”)
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7 Notes