May 4th,1970

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,We're finally on our own.This summer I hear the drumming,Four dead in ohio.Gotta get down to itSoldiers are gunning us downShould have been done long ago.What if you knew herAnd found her dead on the groundHow can you run when you know? Gotta get down to itSoldiers are gunning us downShould have been done long ago.What if you knew herAnd found her dead on the groundHow can you run when you know? Tin soldiers and nixon coming,We're finally on our own.This summer I hear the drumming,Four dead in ohio.

These are the words of Neil Young about the tragedy at Kent State university. Two days before the shooting I was in Kent,Ohio at my cousin's wedding.I was only in fifth grade,but I knew what was happening.The graffiti shouting 'Clapton Is God',was slowly being replaced by a newer variety.This time,people were painting,'U.S. out Laos' or U.S. out of Cambodia'.

Each week the newspapers were printing a two soldier graph:One big soldier-one small one.The big soldier represented the wounded.The smaller one,the dead.

It was a no win-no win police action.The South Vietnamese seemed to want us there even less then the North.There was no victory strategy.Rich kids got deferments or went to college.Poor kids got drafted.

The adults,raised in the mist of WWII,were pro military.Young kids-like me-raised in the days of the justified civil right marches,saw the power of protest against injustice.

It was a powder keg ready to go off.Both sides were American proud.They just didn't see eye to eye.

And so,Kent State happened.

It pains me to see that it is my generation,now,justifying the corruption of the Iraqi war.Our leaders,who must have been thinking they didn't want to die fighting for what they must have thought to be an unjust war(or police action),are now denouncing anyone whom protested against their actions.

They had to think the Vietnam war unjust,or they most certainly would have joined up to fight in it.Though later against the war,this is what Kerry did.

I never had to register for the draft.I never thought of joining the military.I was not a believer in the American military machine fighting for no reason.I did not want to die for no reason.The U.S.S.R. and China would never let us go further-and our leaders were not willing to risk WWIII trying to.You never heard a military ad on the radio or on Tv.Not joining was a form of civil protest...Something that doesn't seem to be tolerated today.

I love my country.I think it is the best country ever to be on the face of the Earth.I have always thought so.I still do.

But 'My country:right or wrong' is not the answer.Never has been.Never will be.If it was,then we would still be in Vietnam,only the rich white landowners would have the right to vote,and we would still have slaves.

The strength of America has always been it's ability to change.To force itself to go in the correct direction.Stand strong America...and God bless.