Weekday Update (Working Before the Weekend)

I've been quiet on the blog this week. Usually I at least have a football wrap up and while I tried to start one, I couldn't get my thoughts out due to things I'm working on before Saturday. One of them is my upcoming sermon at my church this Sunday. I needed to block out some extra time to tighten it up and make sure the message is on point.

The second thing is an application to work at the Los Angeles Times for this program. I don't want to call it an internship because it doesn't call itself that but it's a way to help integrate young writers into working for the Times by giving them a taste of learning how to report as well as do different functions where needed.

Some of you are probably thinking, whoa! Maybe for excitement or maybe because you know how I appear to have given up a future in the media. To be honest, I'm not even sure what to expect but I know it's an opportunity. And when opportunity comes to your door, you have to seize it.

I believe that in my heart, I'm a writer and I enjoy journalism as one to express that. I spent four years at a newspaper and I've enjoyed freelancing for the last year and a half but I'd love to write full-time again. I'm also ready to lay down my pen for a career and pursue something else if that avenue opens up. But if this opens up something I can't see right now, it's a risk worth trying.

So I've been working on finalizing the application all week. It's been challenging at points but it's time to apply what I've learned at my "grad school" and once this goes in, I'll find out in April what happens.

I'll be back to my usual posting next week. But here's a quick take on the passing of Joe Paterno.

I think a lot has been said on balancing Joe Pa's football legacy with his final chapter. Can we praise his good works while also acknowledging what he didn't do when Mike McQueary told him about Jerry Sandusky or Black students facing death threats. Can we laud him as one of the greatest coaches in college football who tried to keep his program clean but fault him for his role in how his tenure ended.

The answer, of course, is yes. When you consider Joe Paterno as a man like the rest of us. He was good, he was flawed. He was a legend, he was a teacher, he was a revered figure to many and he also knows he could have done more to protect the children victimized by Sandusky.

As I've said from Day One, his punishment was his guilt and guilt can cripple a man worse than anything.  It shouldn't overshadow all of his good but it will be part of his story. I wish peace to his family, who will remember him as a father who taught them well.

The best of the memorials I've seen have called for us to stop elevating people as bigger than what they are. I wish people would keep learning this instead of allowing people to keep disappointing them. Even now, I see Tim Tebow and wonder what would happen if he did something wrong - God forbid, the backlash was catastrophic. Not because of him but because we've elevated someone as bigger than life.

Am I saying someone can't be greatly admired in a particular area? No but always remember they are people who have the capability of making mistakes. Our goal is to make sure that whatever good we do in life outweighs the bad and we try to do the right thing regardless of how it may hurt. That's the final lesson Joe Paterno can teach us.