Frantically, all were trying to figure out why the Dean cut Will's speech short. Yes, the Chapel had run 20 minutes overtime, cutting into First Period, but shouldn't he have ended the Chapel earlier, between speakers? Rumors were circulating that Will was mocking a speaker from earlier in the year, but if he was, it was so subtle that no one to whom I spoke was actually able to pick up on it.
just to clarify on this comment and leave the records clear. he was mocking a previous speaker. BLATENTLY mocking a previous speaker. but not from that year; from several years prior. the speaker he imitated in fact spoke long enough ago that i believe only the senior class ever saw the original speech!
i know very little of this year's speech, only what i've heard, but i can tell of the original of which this was so blatently mocking.
the speech was given by an employee of the school who works in the gym. i do not know him well but he is a kind and sincere man (even if i do not agree personally with his phisosophy.)
he spoke of his life. and gave the entire speech with visual aids. he represented his life with a child's inner tube, the kind they float around the pool in. he chose this because there was definately "something to (his) life, but a huge hole in the middle."
he then demonstrated how he tried to fill it, placing objects through the hole.
"women" (barbie dolls). didn't fit.
"cars" (toy car). not a match either.
"money" (a few dollars). again, it didn't fill.
finally he tried jesus (a balloon with jesus written on it), and the fit was perfect. he found what he wanted from life, and was filled.
the speech was sincere and heartfelt, and he was near tears when he expressed his joy at filling the missing part.
this year's mockery i know involved a hula hoop, stuffed animals, children's books... and no one knows what the "fill" was because the speaker was stopped before the conclusion. but it's quite apparently a mockery of the initial speech.
i do not agree with the way thi was handled, at all. but having SEEN the original speech, unlike three fourths of the students in the room, i agree with stopping it. it's understandable there was an upset by those who had no idea what this really was. but he was severly out of line if you knew...
i don't care if you don't care. i just wanted the record clear.