LETTERS: A TRIP BACK IN MEMORY'S LANE

To the editor:

Just recently I was approached by a student who asked me to describe life back in my years from what it is lived today. This information she desired was for a school project on which she would receive a grade. She was informed my lifespan dates back many years.

Life in early years was so completely different from today that as I talked I sometimes wished that I could return to the serenity, to the decency, the the joys different from today's and to a life without crime, without fear, without drugs.

The young lady wished to know the difference between the black and white races, a change that has come about so completely and so deservedly. The young student inquired about the Ku Klux Klan. They were active and feared. When a burning cross was seen, it was for sure someone would be taken secretly by the KKK for an act that was not good.

As our interview ended, the young student paused as if she were wishful for some of the serenity, some of the freedom from drugs and violence I once experienced. She was thankful for all the progress brought about in the years that followed. Should we all be? I look forward to a future brighter, bigger and stronger in the year 2000.

PAULA E. KEMPE

Cape Girardeau