Why?

“They made me do it.”

Principal Sharman could have cried. Here was a child sitting before him who had caused his fellow classmates more pain than any student before him had, and he was blaming it on the other school. In a feat nothing short of despicable, this student had destroyed a well-loved memorial, and caused a shockwave.

“Who made you do it?”

“The other kids.”

He could not believe it. The actions of this student had caused such violent reactions as an entire Facebook page aimed to hurt the innocent students of his school. Students had been beat to a pulp all because they wore a certain color to the game.

“What other kids.”

“All of them.”

This was getting nowhere, and Sharman realized it. Time to pull the plug, he thought.

“If you don’t tell me exactly who made you do this right now, I’ll have no choice but to expel you and all your friends, everyone you’ve ever associated with. Do you want that? Could you live with yourself if I did that?”

“No”

“Then tell me who!”

Then Sharman had a brilliant idea, albeit a violent one. He told the student to stand, and led him down to the cafeteria. All the students were there, eating. With a hand signal, Principal Sharman silenced them all.

“Here is the student who broke the memorial. I would like to see all staff in my office for about thirty minutes.”

He walked away, knowing the students would punish the boy more than he could as principal.



The boy looked at his classmates and gulped, “They made me do it.”