According to recent abuse charges in college sports, there are people we would never suspect that allegedly molest children walking among us. Sometimes they are closer than we think.
We all have that friend. We've known them forever. Maybe we were a fraternity together. Or the Army. Or we played side-by-side on the football field.
We've stayed in touch—not just annual Christmas cards, but a carefully nurtured relationship. Maybe we have found a way to work together.
We know each others' kids. We've shared vacations. We've had them around our Thanksgiving table. We would drop everything in a split second to help them and they'd do the same.
Our bond is stronger than tempered steel.
And then one day, we are presented with irrefutable evidence that that friend has molested children—that they are the very definition of a pedophile. We get past the "it can't be" stage. What do we do?
Rat out someone closer than a brother to the authorities? That would destroy his family and our friendship.
Quietly tell that friend to get some help "or else"? Put some distance between us and cross our fingers?
Walk away and let someone else handle this? Maybe.
Syracuses' Bernie Fine and PSU coaching alum Jerry Sandusky allegedly abused children. Their scandal has stained Jim Boehiem in upstate New York and changed the legacy of Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions forever.
What did Boehiem and Paterno know? We'll never really be sure. But neglected in all this is the fact that some innocent children had that innocence stripped away and that should be our greatest motivation to be alert for the predators who walk among us.
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