When you are in high school and you are graduating, you may be looking for something exciting to end the year on a high note. Of course, the ceremony is supposed to do that, but that’s more for the parents than the students. And if you are these two guys from Westfield High School, their idea was a tribute to their favorite film, Star Wars.
And to do so, they made up a whole battle routine with light sabers to be performed in the school cafeteria in an unannounced impromptu show for their fellow students. The setup was simple. They would walk in, challenge the other, ignite their sabers and go at it for a bit. Sounds innocent enough, right? Especially with toy sabers that even if someone got hit, would only sting a little, not beat them silly. And they did just as they had practiced a few days before the end of the year.
You would think that school officials would recognize this bit of jovial theater for what it was and smile along with the rest of the crowd, who found it funny, but nope. Instead they suspended the two boys for two days, which was enough to keep them from going down the aisle at graduation. The principal cited safety concerns as the reason for the punishment, but this isn’t flying with the online community, which has started up a Facebook page to discuss the matter. And we agree that it seems a bit heavy handed for what happened. No one got hurt and all had a bit of fun. Is that so wrong? At worst I could see the two days suspension, but really? Not allowing them to graduate with their classmates over a bit of show?
We do hope the principal reconsiders after the outrage. Even Darth Vader seemed to have more compassion.
