Tuesday, April 25, 2000

One week and two days from today, the United States will mark a tragic anniversary. On May 4, 1970, National Guardsmen opened fire on a group of anti-war protesters on the Kent State University campus.

When the smoke cleared, four students were dead, nine were injured and the way we looked at our country – and war – had changed forever.

Although there will be much attention paid to the Kent State shootings in the media, many schools and parents might not want to tackle such a tough subject with their children. There is no question that this is an ugly piece of American history.

But there is a value to talking about not only the shooting, but what those students died protesting.

The Vietnam War was a dilemma for many Americans. Most felt we should not have been there, while others felt to protest the action was to dishonor the many young men who gave their lives.

No matter what your viewpoint, this period of American history is thought-provoking. The ideas that came from those protests could be important to students who might not really understand that the 1960s and ’70s were about more than just Woodstock and disco.

Today’s teens might not have lived through – or ever will live through – such a traumatic experience in their lifetimes, but we can teach them some of the same lessons through history and personal accounts of how the Kent State shooting and the Vietnam War affected us.

And the anniversary of the shootings seems like a perfect day to do just that.