Lest we forget--or never knew--on this day in 1970 four students at Kent State University were killed when national guard troops called into "maintain order" opened fire on the unarmed protestors.
I hadn't realized the anniversary was today until Jenny, my friend and Yoga Mentor mentioned it this evening after class. She was amazed that when she had mentioned to a 40 something year old friend earlier, she had never heard about Kent State--or Crosby Stills Nash and Young for that matter!! The true history of the quest for peace and justice--and the violent reaction to it--is so often lost in the noise and distractions of daily life in this hyper-capitalistic society today. It's easy to forget. I did today--twice.
As I moved through hobbling around on these crutches to make dinner and went upstairs to get ready to be horizontal, I had entirely forgotten about Kent State again--until a Facebook post from Iris Sutter via Seniors for a Democratic Society!
I immediately crawled over to grab the 12 stringer and sang a few rounds of "Ohio". I had actually played in front of the Coop today and wish I would hadn't let this date slip past me without honoring all those involved. Now I sit here with fingers flying over this keyboard, crying over the needless bloodshed that our species it prone to--and how Noble the quest for Peace truly is.
I'm so grateful to all those people, the countless human beings whose names I'll never know who have waged peace, often at the risk of their own safety, throughout human history. I'm grateful to all those who continue on.
I'm also grateful for the good fortune to have stumbled across the Meditation Practices which help me to face all this, feel all this fully--and keep on trucking along the Path of Peace.