Enjoy the good times

The shooting rampage that took place in Colorado last week reminds us that mayhem can take place anywhere at any time.

A few hundred people thought they were going to spend a fun night at the movies, but their lives changed forever. For some, their lives ended. Dozens of others were injured and the remainder likely received emotional damage they will carry for the rest of their lives.

Intellectually, we all know our lives can end at any second. We know that we are not guaranteed tomorrow, and we understand that if one person snaps that it can have a tremendous impact on us.

Still, all the preparation in the world cannot totally steady us when life changing events take place. Sometimes we get caught in the path of the whirlwind when we are at our most vulnerable. When this happens, the results are often brutal and leave deep scars.

As for the event in Colorado, I am sure we will continue to hear a lot of analysis regarding why the killer did what he did. Though this analysis is meaningful in some respects, much of it is overdone.

After all, how much insight can the "experts" we keep seeing in the media really have if they have not examined the killer? At best, they can only speculate. Some of the speculation is helpful, but it is really nothing better than an educated guest.

Of course, the point of all this speculation is to understand why people cross the line and commit horrible crimes like these. In the last decade or so, we have seen these crimes take place in high schools, on military installations, and on university campuses, to name a few.

The truly scary aspect of all this is the total randomness of it. Because of this, there is really no way we can prepare for it. Are we really going to stop attending movies because of the possibility of something like this happening here? No, we are not, and the one step many of us can take when these things happen is to continue living our lives as normally as possible.

If we try to live a life in which we are constantly looking over our shoulders, then we will be miserable people. We have no control over if a madman will snap and start killing people. The same goes for other events like the loss of jobs or natural disasters.

As much as we like to be in control of our lives, there are so many aspects of it that are out of our hands. Every day, we see news reports of tornadoes doing damage. As much as we know that is real, it does not prepare us when we are the ones being chased by one of those storms.

The bottom line is that we live in a world where bad things happen to good people. We do not live in paradise or any sort of utopia. Because of this, we are guaranteed that we all will go through seasons of suffering.

This may sound somewhat cynical, but it is the truth. Just because truth can be rough does not make it cynical. It is just the way it is.

Because of this, maybe we should all appreciate the good seasons and the many blessings we get to enjoy. Despite these dark times we live in, the positives often outweigh the negatives by a large margin.

If we focus on this, it will certainly help when the dark times do come. This is because we all know that darkness only stays a nighttime in most cases.

Good times are often just around the corner.

Joe Paterno's restless sleep

It has been a little more than a week since the release of the Freeh Report. The report outlined the lack of action Penn State officials took as pedophile Jerry Sandusky preyed on children on their campus.

It is all hard to believe, but by this point in our lives, maybe none of us should ever be shocked by anything that happens. As long as human beings are able to be self-centered, then decisions like the ones made there will continue to happen.

According to the Freeh Report, head football coach Joe Paterno and other high-ranking university officials were aware of the 1998 criminal investigation regarding Sandusky and his alleged abuse of a boy. Though the investigation did not result in charges at that time against Sandusky, there was compelling information that should have resulted in him not having access to university facilities anymore.

However, Penn State officials did nothing, and Sandusky continued using the school’s facilities to abuse boys. The report concluded, "In short, nothing was done and Sandusky was allowed to continue with impunity."

Most of the focus has been on Paterno. For better or worse, head football coaches are one of the most highly visible people on university campuses these days. Paterno was especially powerful at Penn State, and because of this, he has taken more heat than others involved in this.

One of the report's conclusions is the lack of action by officials was done to avoid bad publicity for the university and the football program. If this is the case, it represents a new low. In many ways, college sports stink to high heaven when it comes to corruption, and it is difficult to find a much worse case than this.

What makes this harder to fathom is that Paterno and Penn State had been put on a pedestal as an example of how college sports and academia could work together in a positive way. Looking back at it, a lot of the exalting of the school was from within. The school carried itself with a lot of pride when it came to the ways it did business.

As with most aspects of life, pride often precedes the fall, and this is certainly the case here. Penn State’s values now come across as shrill and self-righteous in many ways. Paterno was critical of many aspects of college sports and sometimes pointed out others he felt were not worthy.

He famously once said he did not want to leave football to the Jackie Sherrill’s and Barry Switzer’s of the world. Both Sherrill and Switzer were coaches who had problems with the NCAA and its rules. Though both those men ran programs that broke rules, neither came close to the horror associated with the Penn State situation.

Of course, Paterno is dead now. He died earlier this year of cancer only months after being ousted as head coach. It would have been interesting to hear him talk about the situation. His family has spoken out in his defense, and I can only imagine the nightmare that is their lives right now.

The bottom line is this is a cautionary tale of how careful we should be when looking up to people we respect. Despite his bad decisions, Paterno did a lot of good. However, he was only a man and capable of making big mistakes like the rest of us.

It is easy to throw rocks at others, but all of us need to realize that evil dominoes can begin tumbling if we lose sight of what is right and wrong. It happened to Paterno, and it can happen to us.

Never lose sight of that fact.

Hairstyle Hall of Fame: Yul Brynner

No Hairstyle Hall of Fame could be complete without actor Yul Brynner.  Very distinct and distinguished.  The irony of this photo is that it shows him smoking.  Before he died of cancer, he famously blamed his impending death on that habit.  So, the lesson to be learned is that it is okay to shave your head but never take up smoking.  Seriously.