Penn State, My Final Loss of Faith (Brilliant Wash Post Blog Post)

[alcibiades_mystery]

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.

I was never harmed by Sandusky, but I could have been. When I was 15, my mother, then looking for a little direction for her teenage son, introduced me to the Second Mile’s Friend Fitness program. It was a program resembling Big Brother, Big Sister with a weekly exercise regimen.

Instead of Sandusky’s care, I was sent to a group of adults, many of whom were in their 20s. They took me from a C-student to the University of Chicago, where I’m a master’s student now. They took the football team’s waterboy and made a 101st Airborne Division soldier.

-----------SNIP-----------------

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/penn-state-my-final-loss-of-faith/2011/11/11/gIQAwmiIDN_blog.html

[madaboutharry]

1. That just made me cry.

[valerief]

2. Eloquent post. nt

[Tennessee Gal]

3. I understand the pain represented by this author's words,

but it cannot be blamed on everyone in a generation. Not everyone agreed with the actions taken. Many of us were disgusted by the political decisions made and predicted the outcome of such folly.

[GoCubsGo]

9. Exactly right.

I am 50, and I'm getting really sick of being told that I'm not good enough for the hundreds of jobs to which I have applied over the past 5 years, too. And, I don't know what "boundless prosperity" he is talking about my generation having inherited. I graduated college during the Reagan Error. The jobs market was nearly as bad then as it is now. I wound up with a minimum wage clerical job for the year I took off before I went to grad school. And, the pickings were slim when I graduated with a Masters degree. The job I did wind up in payed shit wages. So much for "endowed opportunities to succeed, to prosper, and build on their parents’ work." It took me until I was a few months short of 40 before I could afford to buy a house. This guy's view of how things when we were his age is a fucking fairy tale.

And, count me as one of those who was disgusted by the abominably bad political decisions, none of with which I agreed. I'm as sick of being lumped in with the assholes of my generation, as I am sick of being told that the previous generation is somehow the "Greatest Generation". As many of the supposed "Greatest Generation" are just as responsible for this mess as their children are. They helped elect the Tom Delays, Dick Cheneys, Ronald Reagans, and other crooks, too. And, plenty from this guy's generation gave us the Bush/Cheneys, too. It wouldn't surprise me if he voted for them--if he bothered to vote at all.

[JohnnyLib2]

4. Well worth reading.

Wow! Thanks for this one. Rec.

[Spazito]

5. Wow, very eloquent....

thanks for posting this. Recommended.

[Number23]

12. Hey there!

:hi:

[malaise]

6. Very well said

rec

[n2doc]

7. K and big frickin' R n/t

[Frustratedlady]

8. I read this a bit ago and it is still running thru my mind. Great essay.

It needs to be sent to Congress to be read on the floor.

[Scuba]

10. Eloquent. Moving. K&R

[Number23]

11. So far, no one has accused the author of disrespecting his elders

That's encouraging.

Our parents’ generation has balked at the tough decisions required to preserve our country’s sacred entitlements, leaving us to clean up the mess. They let the infrastructure built with their fathers’ hands crumble like a stale cookie. They downgraded our nation’s credit rating. They seem content to hand us a debt exceeding the size of our entire economy, rather than brave a fight against the fortunate and entrenched interests on K Street and Wall Street.

[RobinA]

13. Nonsense

Poor leadership, pedophilia, pure idiocy are not hallmarks of a generation. This guy is the reverse of my 80-year-old mother, who is convinced that everybody was decent and honest back in the day.

I, too, graduated during Reagan. I still can't buy a house, I never will, and yes, I have a Masters. The problem at Penn State is sociological, not generational.