Information Overload at PSU

I've been trying to gather my thoughts on this one, in order to write a post that may do justice to the delicate topic at hand. I have been thinking that maybe if I could write a blog post and get it out there, people may realize what it is like to be a Penn State student at this time. The problem is, it's impossible to get a grip on anything. This is not to sound dramatic, but I have been talking it over with classmates, friends, and family and the only thing we can come up with is that this situation is effecting us very negatively -- and logically, we cannot exactly pinpoint why. I mean, it's a terrible tragedy, but tragedies appear in the news all of the time, so why is this particular case rocking the nation?
If you have not yet guessed, I am referring recent incidents at Penn State -- mainly the Sandusky/Curly/Shultz allegations and the firing of Graham Spaniar and Joe Paterno.
The thing is, I'm not going to give an opinion -- not here -- because my opinion is not going to give innocence back to the children who had to lose it at such a young age. My opinion is not going to change the disappointment in heroic figures on campus, and my opinion is not going to give back the reputation that took so long build and seconds to lose. If anything, my opinion might just revoke negative emotions -- and this is not the time to add gasoline to the fire.
Right now our university is in shock, anger, and grief. How did such a great senior year turn into a time that we will remember forever? And more importantly, where do we go from here?
The hardest thing to deal with is this information overload. Twitter, Facebook, you name it, has been taking over with opinionated posts, disturbing pictures of "barbaric" students, and a general sense of anger and devastation. Half of the posts are reclaimed later as false rumors. The posts and articles are way too much for a university in shock to handle right now. It is hard to form an opinion because there are way to many opinions sprouting in every direction.
As students, no matter what your specific opinion is, we need to be strong. We cannot let our opinions tear us apart right now. It is so hard with such controversy slamming us every two days, but if we are going to move on from this, the worst thing we can do is fight with each other over the executive decisions of people we will never meet. We just need to focus on staying far away from the media and rebuilding our own image -- as students -- that we unfairly had tarnished for us.
I would like to end this by giving my regards to the victims. I urge everyone to wear blue tomorrow (11/11) as a symbol of child abuse awareness. Also, take some time away from Twitter and Facebook, and allow yourself time to really think about what you believe, instead of posting your initial reactions in anger.
"If we don't seek our knowledge to be greater men, when the rain starts falling we're gonna drown before we get our feet wet."