“Growing Up with Joe” (link)
- Thread starter Zenophile
- Start date
Thank you much for posting Zeno.
"It also still saddens me to think of Joe’s words"—“With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”
Lord, Why don't people understand or refuse to appreciate Joe's remark?
If I knew then what we "supposedly" know today, I would have been more involved.
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The four men in my life that really had a great impact in my life are my grandfather ( he essentially raised me), my father-in-law, Pop, my father (a survivor of the Batan Death March) and our JoePa.
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So, her name is Misty. Well, in that case, congratulations.
This is the Joe we all knew. The Joe that knew my mothers name and the other secretary in our high school in southwestern PA. The Joe that years later spoke to each of them by first name, and asked about my grandfather and my youngest sisters health. He had not seen my mother for a decade. His concern for decent friendly people, young people and their future dwarfed his interest in his profession, his interest in football, and his interest in football recruits even as passionate as he was about the game. The passion he had that made him so special was that about the human condition and the experience of compassion and care for each other.
This is what makes his crucifixion by so many that never got to know him or simply envied him absurd. What caps it off is that his statement of compassion "with the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more." has been edited to used as a axe with which to destroy his image. He made that statement as an old man with diminished faculties at a time in life when he was dying and had survived a decade of losing so many people he loved. This article clearly illustrates what matter to Joe. With the Benefit of hindsight, he wished he could have done better by everyone all his life. Those of us privileged to hear Joe in his unique vernacular care for so many others that lesser men would ignore, know what he meant when he made that statement. With the benefit of being Atlas, he would have saved the world. And for so many, as many as he could fit in, he did.
Who among us couldn’t apply that statements to our own lives as well. “With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.” Probably a great gift he gave to us all. A view from the end of the race, that we can apply to ourselves as we run it. Thank you again, Joe!
Your finest post ever.
Indeed, you deserve more than a like for that one.
Joe embodies everything I hope to be. As a high school and rec league coach, as a husband, as a father, as a man and as a person. My kids will tell you I point them first to Jesus but the second best example I use in life is Joe.
I never met him, but as a kid from Western PA who grew up in VA but often visiting family in Central PA I was drawn to my love of PSU by a guy who embodied team, doing what was right and his love of the game.
My oldest son was given Joseph as his middle name for Joe. I have 9 kids, none named after myself, my wife or anyone in our family, but I wanted my oldest son to have that so when he was old enough he'd learn about the man he was named after. Now 15, his hope is to play baseball and football at PSU, but I remind him no matter where he lands it isn't about PSU, but rather about being a man like Joe who left Brown and landed at PSU and impacted a place in such a way that hundreds of years from now things like success with honor will still be practiced.
His death that Sunday morning was harder than the loss of any grandparent I had. And the continual running his name through the mud will always draw my ire. But I remember Joe and know he'd look at his detractors today as he did when he was alive and know he did the best he could in every situation. He wasn't perfect, but he was closer than most will ever be.
Love ya Joe.
I never met him, but as a kid from Western PA who grew up in VA but often visiting family in Central PA I was drawn to my love of PSU by a guy who embodied team, doing what was right and his love of the game.
My oldest son was given Joseph as his middle name for Joe. I have 9 kids, none named after myself, my wife or anyone in our family, but I wanted my oldest son to have that so when he was old enough he'd learn about the man he was named after. Now 15, his hope is to play baseball and football at PSU, but I remind him no matter where he lands it isn't about PSU, but rather about being a man like Joe who left Brown and landed at PSU and impacted a place in such a way that hundreds of years from now things like success with honor will still be practiced.
His death that Sunday morning was harder than the loss of any grandparent I had. And the continual running his name through the mud will always draw my ire. But I remember Joe and know he'd look at his detractors today as he did when he was alive and know he did the best he could in every situation. He wasn't perfect, but he was closer than most will ever be.
Love ya Joe.
