Tommy Chang Comes Out

Thomas Chang says that he has known since he was a child that he would be in revolutionary times. He knew he would have to fight for what he believed to be right. He also thought that when his parents came to the USA via BC in Canada, he might have left this all behind, for there would be no revolution in the USA. His visions and dreams of struggle were some remnant of Chinese history in the 20th century: Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao. He does not know quite what to make of the past 8 years. The financial mess particularly bothers him, since it was his opinion that numbers and accountancy were a stable refuge in the changing world. He asked us at the Grey Beards club whether anyone else present, aged 55 to 70 years approximately, has felt that he was born into a time of struggle, whether they would be called upon to bear incredible burdens, and whether they felt intimidated by the enormity of it all. There was an immediate silence; a long, drawn out silence. Jakubowski muttered something about "Lord of the f***ing Rings", but fell silent, too. A long, living silence like the deluge of the Torah, the aim of which was to erase, not to irrigate; to lay low, not to augment; to bury, not to give birth. Levine raised his hand. He said yes. In his private thoughts, he had called them defenders of faith; defensores fidei, Fid.Def. as it is writ on the coins of the UK. He thought of Masada and Maccabees. The room exploded with talk...I do not know quite what to make of what I am witnessing sometimes.