When a young girl worried that kids at school would bully her for wearing a Star Wars shirt, her mom took to Twitter to ask followers for support. She had no idea that her tweet would make it to a galaxy far, far away. Or, at least, to the Twitter account of the real-life Luke Skywalker, who replied with some sage Jedi wisdom for her daughter.
It all began when Natali Drake, N.J. Simmonds on Twitter, posted that her seven-year-old daughter was crying in bed because she wanted to wear her Star Wars t-shirt to school, but feared other students would mock her for liking “boy stuff.” Drake asked people to retweet to show support for her daughter ⏤ and female Star Wars fans the world over ⏤ and the tweet quickly went viral, ringing up more than 49,000 retweets and 110,000 likes.
My 7 year old daughter's crying in bed right now because she wants to wear her Star Wars t-shirt to school but is scared her classmates will laugh because she likes 'boy stuff'. I'm so sad/angry for her. Please RT and comment so I can show her how awesome girl #StarWars fans are.
— N.J.Simmonds (@NJSimmondsTPK) March 6, 2018
All well and good, but it hardly compared to what happened next: Mark Hamill, presumably while sitting cross-legged on a rock overlooking the ocean, tweeted his support to the young girl and offered some words of encouragement to all female Star Wars fans. Hamill first shared a Last Jedi .gif of Skywalker brushing some dirt off of his shoulder and told his young fan to imitate the gesture if anyone tries to criticize her for wearing a Star Wars shirt.
Hamill then assured his young padawan and her mother that the idea of Star Wars being “boy stuff” is an absurd and outdated notion, writing that “the Force is, & always will be strong with females here on Earth & in galaxies far, far away.” The internet, of course, went absolutely bonkers for Hamill’s heartfelt reply and the tweet received more than 72,000 likes.
Just tell her to feel free to use this gesture if her classmates give her any grief. "Boy stuff"? PLEASE! The Force is, & always will be strong with females here on Earth & in galaxies far, far away.
♥️- mh pic.twitter.com/lAI4AGr0sc— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) March 8, 2018
Hopefully, after getting over the shock of having Skywalker reply to her tweet, Drake was able to relay Hamill’s message to her daughter. And, hopefully, her daughter wore that dope Star Wars shirt to school confident that the greatest Jedi who ever lived had her back.