[dropcap size=small]Y[/dropcap]ou’d think this was a headline from the Onion. Sadly it isn’t.
9-year-old Aiden Steward was suspended from school after he brought the “one ring” to school and told a friend he would make him disappear. The school considered it a threat, fearful that Steward’s imagination might hide a darker reality.
The one true ring, forged in the fires of Mt. Doom, is fictional of course. The boy’s father, Jason Steward said “It sounded unbelievable, and his son “didn’t mean anything by it.” They had just recently watched “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” a few days before. Aiden’s imagination got the better of him, as it often does with little boys. He believed he owned the one true ring of power, which is ridiculous of course. No mortal can wield it. It is tricksie. My… preciousssssssss…
Principle and Oruk-hai Roxanne Greer of Aiden’s school deemed him unworthy of attending Kermit Elementary, after the boy suggested that he could put the one ring on his friend’s hand and make him disappear.
“I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend’s existence,” the boy’s father wrote. “If he did, I’m sure he’d bring him right back.”
Kermit Elementary refused to comment on the boy’s suspension, pointing to the district’s confidentiality policies. Apparently Aiden was suspended two other times. Once for bringing a book about pregnancy to the school, and another time for referring to another student’s skin color.
