Thang Nguyen 555

I did not know Quan (Ke Huy) drifted from Cho Lon via Hong Kong and then on to the US/USC film school.

But I did know a boy on a basket, stuttering even in his own language, with only a pair of tattered shorts on him in Jubilee Camp, Hong Kong the time I was serving there.

That boy was sponsored out to the UK, perhaps via another transit camp (Shipley, maybe) where its Child Welfare Bureau would eventually outplace him to foster care. Mainstreaming. Beyond the sea.

Survival of the fittest (50:50). For the more fortunate, it was never easy to confront the language barrier, the racial barrier, and the Healthcare barrier (covid).

Been 3 years since Karma tapped on our shoulders, to get our attention. Which side (of Karma) are you on?

Shoving them Asian under the bus,? Handing them an Oscar? ( in 1982, Vincent Chan and the Yellow Peril, out on his Bachelor Night in Detroit, were beaten to death by a baseball bat in a mistaken identity case – for a Jap – the Others, who had taken away ‘our ‘good paying “jobs”). Another Vietnamese child actor, Myca Dinh Le, was killed along with Vic Morrow during an accident on the set of Twilight Zone.

There are both good AND bad underneath the skin, of any color. But I also believe that life afforded us enough time to reset and realign our faith. Faith that goodness will overcome even when Evil might look strong and scary.

Beyond the sea and beneath the skin.

Many did not make it, sunk or scattered into the four winds. Survivors lived with haunted memories of rape, robbery, and starvation. It’s a miracle that that boy survived at all on a basket. To drift with the undercurrent to strange shores (Last weekend, many did not make it to San Diego). The Jubilee camp received him as they would a message in the bottle.

Years after I could still remember that boy and two ladies in the upstairs infirmary at the time recovering from pirates’ looting and raping (and cannibalism).

But then, there were Chase, our team leader, and the Fitzstevens (from Canada) who represented hope. Who indulged me to put together makeshift outdoor entertainment events to lift up the spirits of five thousand survivors in the camps. I worked off their strength and courage as I myself was drained and soaked wet by compassion fatigue.

Both the good and the bad find themselves at the feet of Karma whose big wheel never stops churning. Its final say: “which side of mine are you on”. Behind the applause and tears at last night’s Oscar, I heard Karma beckon:” Don’t give up”.

Look beyond the sea. You’ll see.

P.S. I am sure that boy in the basket is currently living in Britain. who, not unlike Quan, oftentimes feels faint-hearted. May life toss him another raft before the undercurrent once again carries him as it had done the first time around. How we feel may fluctuate e.g. from shoving them under the bus to giving them an Oscar; but our multi-verse of One is Unchanged. All along.