HIPPIES CHANGED THE WORLD, MAN

Re: Youth In Revolt, Robert Fulford, May 3.

The hippies were much more than drugged-up, flower-loving
nymphomaniacs. They were mostly white, middle-class college students
who stood up for their far-left beliefs. They accomplished far more
than today's youth could ever dream of. On May 4, 1970, a group of
college students at Kent State University were protesting the invasion
of Cambodia. The hippies hated war and they weren't shy letting others
know. On that day, four students were killed by American soldiers at
the peaceful protest. Their deaths became a huge motivator for the
hippie movement, including a protest by more than 100,000 people in
Washington, D.C.

This single event alone changed the protocol of crowd control,
triggered the lowering of the legal voting age and started the
unravelling of the Nixon empire. If that's not social change, I don't
know what is.

Michelle Glavic, 18

Niagara Falls, Ont.