Written by Heather | 11 November 2011

I've been hesitant to go anywhere near the Penn State story these last few days.  Child abuse in any form is horrible.  I've worked with a lot of kids who have been severely damaged by things like what allegedly happened with Jerry Sandusky.  I just... I can't even imagine.  But I also hate the nonstop chatter, the endless picking apart, the increasingly noisy race to out-anger and out-outrage everyone else that's been going on on the Internet the last few days.  It's a horrible and yes, kind of fascinating story, but I don't know.  Everything about the story makes me uncomfortable.

I will talk about the column that Bucky Gleason wrote today about Terry Pegula's statement.  The whole column is right here, but here's the part that really jumped out at me:

Pegula could have called a news conference or, if that wasn't possible, set up a conference call. The organization has said many times it wants to be more transparent with open lines of communication. Presumably, it meant in good times and bad.

His prepared statement addressed certain issues, but I'm not sure it was the right message. It wasn't what I expected from someone known for his human touch and strong leadership. Leaders immediately stand up in the face of turmoil and speak against what they perceive as wrongdoing or, in this case, much worse.

That seems terribly unfair to me.  I doubt that when Pegula promised transparency and open communication that he was talking about his entire life.  If this had anything to do with something going on in the Sabres organization, then yes, I would absolutely hope to hear from him and if it was something this horrific I would want his words to be swift and forceful.  But this?  Maybe I'm in the minority because I wasn't really clamoring for Pegula to comment in the first place, but this is not something that I think he has to explain or justify or open up to us if he doesn't want to.  It doesn't have anything to do with his relationship with Sabres fans.

I think I also have a problem with the implication that leadership is always fast and loud.  That's not necessarily true.  I don't know Pegula obviously, but he seems like a man who likes to examine things and think them over.  He certainly seems like a soft-spoken guy.  Bucky acknowledges earlier in the column that Pegula was probably waiting for details, waiting to see how the school reacted, taking time to sort out his own emotions before he made any kind of public statement.  But then Bucky turns around and suggests that while all of the above things make perfect sense, it was the wrong way to react?  I don't know.  To me those things - slowing down, thinking - are also things that leaders do.  There's so much noise out there around this already.  Do we really need one more angry voice in the crowd, rushing to judge everyone and everything? What does that accomplish for us, for Penn State, for Pegula, or for anyone involved?  I thought Pegula's statement was straight-forward and honest, and that's just fine with me.