“Are you sexually attracted to underage boys?”
Sandusky's Folly
Is that a hard question for most people? It’s an easy question for me to answer because no, I am not sexually attracted to underage boys. See? That was simple. Not only that, I’m not attracted to underage girls. Scotch is the only thing on earth that can be twelve years old and satisfying. But I could tell you that if you asked. I wouldn’t have to fumbled around with the question, and quite frankly, even though people who do not understand Scotch, I’m fairly certain they’ll get the boy question right without a bunch of hemming and hawing, and without a lawyer having to step in for them.
Okay, here’s another question for you; is it okay to shower with children to whom you are not related? I’d like a show of hand of people out there who have (1) showered with a child unrelated, or (2) allowed their child to shower with someone else. If you didn’t put up your hand you’re likely asking some very pointed questions about the people who did raise their hands, and maybe it’s just us. Maybe we just don’t understand. Explain it to me. I’m a patient man. Under what circumstance does your child take a shower with someone and under what conditions were you bathing with a child? I’m fifty-one years old and I’ve known some people who were…eccentric. But the number of grown men I have known to shower with little boys is a number somewhere between zero and none.
I know people who work with kids. Most of them realize they hold the trust of not only the parents and the children, and indeed, that is a burden in and of itself, but they hold the trust of society itself. I have no kids. But it is offensive to me in the extreme when someone violates this trust. There are young people in their teens at the local YMCA who take care of children and I can tell you something that is one of the most crystal clear facts known to humankind; these young men and women hold themselves, and their fellows, to a higher standard than I have seen in many places. They are not only above reproach but above suspicion. Their actions are transparent and public. They treat their charges as if they have the most important job on earth.
And they do.
They do for many reasons. They are there to protect children. Is that not enough? No, they also have to reassure everyone they are doing that. They have to earn trust, keep trust, guard trust, and in this they build a society that is open and caring and nurturing and good.
And they aren’t making the millions Penn State was making while one of their own was at the very best, showering with little boys, and at worst, raping them repeatedly.
And this man can’t answer a straight question about being sexually attracted to underage boys? Why is this? Why is this, in this day and age, with all the horror and shame, can this man not either admit he’s a monster or play claim to some sort of non-attraction to boys? At some level, I think he has to realize what he has done, and it eats away at his brain. Not quickly enough, mind you, but little bits of his façade crack every time he opens his mouth.
This morning the 8:20 Yoga class was shifted to a part of the Y where I had never been before. It’s where the kids hang out and play and one of the women working there was surprised I didn’t know it existed. The kiddie pool, with all the cool sprayers and slides and stuff can be seen from a distance, but I’ve never been there either. I have no kids so there is no reason for me to be there. The only people who go in such places are parents, and those dedicated people who care for children.
And monsters.
If you can’t answer a simple question about whether you are, or are not, sexually attracted to underage boys without a lawyer it doesn’t leave me guessing which one you are.
Take care,
Mike