Farewell

Courtesy: http://www.dawgsports.com/            

               This isn't going to be a long post. I just needed to get out my thoughts on this issue.  When we left class on Wednesday I went directly up to Curtain Road, to watch the procession. While I waited out there, I couldn't help but think of how we will remember this in years to come.  We stood out in the cold along a street to watch the passing of a man most of us never even met. And yet because of who he was and what he stood for, I feel like I know Coach Paterno as well as my own grandfather.
            This is where the rhetoric comes in I think. I found it amazing the things that came out about JoePa minutes after his passing.  The media and those who fought so hard to ruin his life, were suddenly commemorating him.  No one wanted to speak ill of him. They chose their words careful, almost as if they were trying to apologize.  All of the sudden the scandal was just a blip at the very end of a long lustrous career. They began by listing his accomplishments. Former players were interviewed talking about how great he was. You didn't see this when the scandal broke out. All of the sudden Joe was a hero again.
             Then I see what we as the students have done in memory. As I said before most of us never met the man. But we could all connect to him. Every time I heard a speech he would make, to us or the players or the community as a whole, I felt like he was talking to his children or grandchildren. The love and care he had in his voice for all of us.... well it made me feel accepted here at PSU. I think that's how we all felt. That's why their have been this out pouring of pictures and quotes and status's remembering him in all his greatness. The pictures of Joe just standing with his arms crossed smiling in front of the camera... the one of Beaver before and after Joe.  All of these created by students and others in the community to show how much he has done for us, and how much he meant for us.

Courtesy: Andrew Johnson

              For me, this truly is like losing my grandfather. My mother's father passed away before I was born. I never knew the man. But somehow he is more important to my life than any other living relative.  I've always heard how much I am like him. I have his nose, his build; I have his wit and clumsiness. I made up an image for the man I didn't know.  Ironically Coach Paterno fit it perfectly. I never met Coach but somehow I knew he was was like my grandfather. Maybe its because their stories were so similar. Born to poor families; both fought in the war; both played football at Ivy League schools (My grandfather was the starting guard of the Yale Bulldogs... Oddly enough He told my mother that he remember's playing Joe when He was at Brown in the Early 50s), and both were kind loving men that were known for putting others before themselves. I guess it just made sense that Coach Paterno could be the physical embodiment of my Pops. With his passing... well needless to say I felt it.
              So I guess to conclude what was supposed to be this short post I want to say this: Thank You so much Coach Paterno. Not only for what you gave to the football program or the school, but for the love and kindness you showed to all of your 40,000 children. We will always remember you in our hearts.