And so we're here to learn - to fertilize those little gardens of knowledge sprouting in our skulls. And so we're told to form opinions - not necessarily enlightened ones, but opinions nonetheless. It's important, you know. Learning to speak loudly and with conviction.

But it's more important to listen. I guess I never really thought about the demands put on a Kent State student - never counted how many times I was asked about May 4. Never realized how quickly I formed my opinions. I simply learned to have an answer ready.

And it was all a distant image.

It never really hit home until I heard a copy of a record included in the 1971 Chestnut Burr yearbook. Footage from May 3 and 4, 1970. Students chanting, ringing the Victory Bell. Unidentified speakers condemning protesters ("They're the worst type of people that we harbor in America..."). Chaotic screams inflamed by tear gas. And questions. Tearful questions, with no answers.

The answers are still not complete. But we know there was a cause then - a rock-solid belief in good and evil, and the energy to support the good at all costs.

We came to Kent to learn. If we fulfill that expectation, we should leave recognizing how much there is still to learn. Opinions are easy. Truth takes work. And so we wipe the ego from our eyes and look again.

From the yellowing newspaper clips and bloody photos arise stories of tragedy, of spirit, of hope. Twenty years have passed, and those distant images keep getting clearer.

Joan Smith, Editor