These past few weeks have given us many opportunities to shake our heads in bemusement at the activities of others.
As a long-time football fan, I rooted for thePennStateteams fielded by Joe Paterno because they seemed to exemplify what was good about the collegiate athletic experience. The coach was an erudite leader who seemed to have the long-term interests of his players foremost in his mind.
He also developed an extraordinary legacy of linebackers.
Now, sadly, he has a different legacy. It has posthumously moved him from the pantheon of coaches to the dung heap. Why? Because either he put football before humanity or he blissfully ignored the reality of the sadistic activities of one of his trusted aides.
Either way, the story of Joe Paterno has a much different first paragraph.
We also saw threeCaliforniacities proclaim their own type of bankruptcy. This time it was financial. But, in all three cases, it was a breakdown of leadership and a lack of empathy for those under their charge…the people who live in and work forStockton,MammothLakesandSan Bernardino.
In each of these cases, there were different triggering mechanisms. ForStockton, it was, frankly, believing their own BS. They wanted to recreate their city by indebting themselves into somewhat dubious programs including building a new sports stadium without any sure source of revenue to pay for it.
TheMammothLakesbankruptcy was due to the loss of a legal case where, on objective viewing, the City never had a chance to win. All the lawsuit did was delay the inevitable…and line some lawyers’ pockets.
But, of the three, theSan Bernardinobankruptcy was the most disturbing because, it seems, the financial condition that caused the action seemed to be a “surprise.” That is very difficult to accept as, if the City Council was interested in following the financial goings-on within the city, it is relatively easy to do.
Nothing financial should ever be a surprise to an interested city council. In fact, whenever I was asked by incoming council members what they should do first, my advice was “understand the budget.” That’s because if you do that, you see the city’s roadmap written out in front of you.
What do these have in common? Responsibility. The Penn State situation, while far worse than civic bankruptcy, was also a case of the people in charge not coming to grips with the fact that they have a moral responsibility for others. In addition, ordinary people who did see wrongdoing did not come forward.
In the cities, that same responsibility for others, whether they be city employees, contractors or residents, relied upon someone in power to do the right things. They didn’t.
You can’t legislate responsibility. But, you should demand it.
There is little that can be done to help the victims at Penn State except put those responsible in jail for as long as possible. In the cities, there is little that can be done except, perhaps, to expel those responsible for being asleep at the switch by voting them out or pressing them to resign.
Either way it is up to us to demand and implement that change.
