LAMPANG, THAILAND – DECEMBER 19: A statue of King Chulalongkorn holding a sword stands at Boontan Sittipaisal’s office on December 19, 2017 in Lampang, Thailand. The craft of sword making is dying in Thailand and Boontan Sittipaisal is one of the country’s remaining people who are still making the dah, a Burmese word that means ‘blade’, which represents a long history of sword making across Indochina. The single-edged sword stretches out from a round handle with a subtle curve that widens toward the tip and was used in Thailand during the Ayutthaya period as weapons but later incorporated into ceremonial dances, physical education classes, and martial arts. Boontan, his brother Boonsoung, and a team of craftsmen finish about ten swords each day at their workshop located at the suburb of Hang Chat in Lampang, forging the swords by hand while paying attention to quality and passing on the endangered art to the next generation in hopes that it will not die.
(Photo by Brent Lewin/Getty Images)
If you were in school back in the '80s, odds are you probably did some bone-headed stuff. Here's proof that it's never too late to make things right.
In Westfield, an anonymous man just returned a sword he stole from a Revolutionary War statue in the town's center way back in 1980. He was a student at Westfield State at the time, and wrenched the bronze sword free of a statue of Gen. William Shepard during a night out drinking with friends. After four decades of guilt and remorse, the man--a veteran--arranged to return the sword to Westfield's Historical Commission in exchange for his anonymity.
Boston.com has the rest of the story, and we have stories of MUCH worse stuff we did during our college days. But we'll never tell.
