The power of imagination:

I consider one of my heroes to be Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. That boy's imagination was one to be envied and emmulated. That is one of the reasons I love my kids. I have one boy that has been in trouble a lot, got in trouble a lot, has terrible luck, a bad reputation, and I have prevented from getting kicked out of school 3 times with great effort. He has a really good heart, but a bad reputation with the staff, a chip on his shoulder and so legitimatly bad luck. He has recently become obsessed with ninjas.

So, when I hear that he has brought a ninjitsu throwing knife to school I discreetly tried to talk to him about it. He was very proud of the fact that he did, and he, being a ninja, wouldn't hurt anyone with it- but he needed to have it in case we were attacked. He assured me that no one knew. (No one knew like no one knew Barry Bonds was on Roids). I explained to him what could happen and promised that if we were attacked as a school I would give it back to him, but bringing a knife to school, even a ninja throwing knife for protection, could have him kicked out in a way even I couldn't help him with. He reluctantly agreed to give it to me, and reached in his sleeve untied a shoestring and slid into his hand a bent up peice of dull metal that must have fallen off the edge of a construction site. It had the same vague outline and a circular hole in the base. My stapler has more offensive potential than this "ninja throwing knife".

I Love these kids.