La Memoria

Today, I was lucky enough to sit in the Bryce Jordan Center and hear an eloquent group of speakers talk about the life and legacy of a very powerful Penn State figure. Sometimes the words that the speakers used were enough to move the audience, but sometimes it was the words left unsaid that made the best impact. There were many parts to the equation that made the entire thing as amazing and impactful as it was.

First of all, the way the speakers (for the most part) spoke made a large difference. Mostly, they told us a story about how they met Joe Paterno, and how after that he had made an impact on their lives, not just on the football field, but in the academic area as well. Their emotions and their feelings toward the subject of their speeches had a huge impact on the audience. The fact that we could hear how they truly cared, and the stories that they each had to share made their speeches more effective, and gave the audience glimpses of the man that Joe Paterno truly was. My personal favorite was the man who decided to do his research on the case that has been in national headlines for the past few months. He showed the part of the responsible citizen-speaker by doing his research and presenting it properly, which it seems that the media has failed to do recently. I think that the parts of his speech that were the most compelling were when he said that he believed that if anything should be focused on, it should be the investigation from years ago (which got an immediate standing ovation), and the part where he asked about the true trustee. He seemed to be able to say just the right things to connect to the emotions of his audience, and to be able to say the things that the media has neglected to say for so long.

Furthermore, the speakers seemed to be able to control the emotions of the audiences based on what they said. Many times, the stories that they told and the emotions clearly written on their faces were enough to make members of the audience, including myself, cry. However, they were also able to say something funny and insightful about Joe that made their audiences chuckle, as if they were also sitting in the room during the moment when the statement was first uttered. Overall, most of the speakers performed eloquently and passionately, and it made a difference for the people who were listening while watching either in the Bryce Jordan Center or via the broadcast.

However, there was one speech which I did not like particularly, because of the content and the delivery. The member of the Paterno Fellows who spoke had some good moments that managed to impact the crowd, but her speech seemed to clash with the rest of the memorial. While she spoke about Joe Paterno, the emotional connection did not seem as strong as it was with the other speakers. Watching her speak, it seemed as though she spent more time talking about the Paterno Fellows program and her accomplishments through the program than she did talking about the person behind the memorial service. While the speech was clear and articulated well, it felt as though the speaker was advocating for the Paterno Fellows rather than remembering someone who made such a large impact on our university.

The videos that were played of Joe Paterno were also very effective. While there were very few words that were shown in the videos, the few words that were played at the end seemed to sum up the feelings that the videos invoked, and wrapped it up to the point where many of the members of the audience were in tears watching it. Each video seemed to capture moments that showed who Joe was and why he became such an important figure to the university. These videos used the small amount of time that they were played in to make a large impact and to thoroughly reflect on Joe Paterno. At the end of the memorial service, I was left wondering whether they could have picked better people to speak, and I realized that they could not have. Without the speakers who spoke from their hearts, and without the pure emotion and compassion with which they presented themselves to the audience, the memorial would not have been as effective and would not have had as much of an impact.