Making a case for a millstone

What would you do if you were driving down the road and saw a man sitting on top of a young boy, pinning him down, beating him with his fists? They both see you observing this horrific act. What would you do at this point? Some people would call 911, report the incident and drive away. Some people would roll down their car window and yell at the man to stop. Some people would park the car, get out and pull the man off of the boy. Some would go even further and give the man what he is giving the boy. How many people would witness the act, drive down the road a few hundred yards, pull over and call their father to ask him what they should do? And how many fathers, hearing about this crime being committed, would advise their son to come to the house where they could talk about what to do next? What? A boy is being beaten, and you are going to talk about it over a cup of coffee, sleep on it that night, and then take some kind of action the next day? By then, the boy could be dead. By then, the man who is beating him could be long gone.
That’s what authorities said happened on the Penn State campus in 2002, except the boy was not being beaten. He was being raped. A 10-year-old boy was allegedly being sexually molested in a shower by 60-year-old Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach for the Nittany Lions. A 28-year-old graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, entered the locker room at 9:30 p.m. on a Friday night, and noticed the light was on in the shower. He looked in and witnessed the molestation taking place, and Sandusky and the boy looked up and saw McQueary, according to an indictment.
The grad assistant later testified before a grand jury that he left the building and called his father, who advised him to come over to the house so they could talk about it. The question that is burning a hole through my mind, and through many of yours as well is: Why didn’t Mike McQueary stop the assault? Two of my friends said what I have heard others on sports-talk shows say this week: “I may have walked out of that room bloody and beaten by Sandusky, since he is a large, powerfully built man, but not before I stopped him from doing what he was doing to that boy.” The corollary question is, “Why would a father advise his son to come talk about it rather than sending him right back to the locker room to stop the attack?” Many have suggested that if McQueary had called the police right then, he may have lost his job at Penn State. Are you serious? Can losing a job possibly compare to what that 10-year-old boy lost that night?
Jesus spoke to this issue 2,000 years ago when he said, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.”
One final question that has been raised in my mind since this event has come to light is this: How many little boys and girls are being subjected to this same horror right in our own sleepy little town? If we know about it, we must stop it, or at least report it to the authorities immediately, lest we make a case for our own millstone.