Remembering Kent State 1970

"On May 4, 1970, Guardsmen attempted to disperse an anti-war demonstrations. They used tear gas, which some protesters threw back at the soldiers. Eventually, the National Guard opened fire. There were 67 shots in 13 seconds, killing four and wounding nine others.

The shooting happened after days of protests on campus about the U.S. expanding the Vietnam War into Cambodia. The city of Kent was declared a state of emergency and the governor sent the Ohio National Guard to the campus."

In the autumn of 1969 my Fifth grade class at Willard had a teaching intern who was attending Kent State. She was long gone from our classroom by the time of the shootings at her alma mater. We had half expected her to return to see us after she was planning to graduate that spring of 1970.

I can see now how that would have been impossible for her to do. I can only imagine how her life would have been changed and that events like her teaching internship might have seemed like from another lifetime.  

It takes a tremendous amount of optimism to be a teacher. Though sometimes it can take as little as 13 seconds of listening to the sound of gunshots to turn an optimist into a cynic and pessimist. I have always wondered how student teacher eventually turned out and if she eventually became a teacher. I have always hoped she allowed herself to believe that goodness pervades reality. Despite my wish, it wouldn't surprise me if the unintended consequences of her decision to attend Kent State and become a teacher had caused her to rethink every aspect of her life.