opinion
British handle crisis
in usual grand style
by David S. Broder
WASHINGTON — How can we ever
repay our debt to the British? Forget the
ancient gifts of Magna Carta, Shakes
peare and Stonehenge. Their generosity
has never been greater than in this past
year, nor have we ever needed them
more.
In every season of our discontent, they
provide the solace that we need to keep
our sanity.
Last summer, when Washington was
dying of heat and af flicted by a mad rush
to dismantle government spending and
taxes, the British gave us that most glo
rious exercise in official extravagance,
the Royal Wedding. Their perfect anti
dote to the bookkeeper mentality of the
David Stockmans of this world was the
sight of those golden trumpeters and
scarlet horsemen (outfitted at public ex
pense), the glass coaches rolling by, and
the Queen’s ransom of fireworks shoot
ing into the night sky to celebrate the
nuptials of Charles and Diana.
In the autumn, when the economy
slumped and the politicians began to
duck and dodge, here Came “Nicholas
Nickleby” — eight-and-a-half hours of
theatrical sport and splendor, a whole
tapestry of colorf ul characters overflow
ing the stage, f illing the aisles, enveloping
the audience in their own love of lan
guage and life.
And then, in the endless winter, when
rising unemployment and falling tem
peratures combined to produce suicidal
impulses, there arrived the 1 1 episodes
of “Brideshead Revisited,” a constant in
ducement to hang in there just one more
week.
coach John Thompson’s protective
embrace of the young player whose
errant pass gave Carolina the champoin-
ship. Soul-satisfying serendipity.
And now, when the world is about to
jitter itself to pieces over the threat of
nuclear war, here, once again, are the
British riding to the rescue. The Falkland
Islands caper is the perfect antidote to
the tawdriness of high-tech international
terror, and the shabby mess 20th century
politicians make when they attempt the
rites of statesmanship.
The British, bless them, have re
minded everyone of what a cirsis could be
in a time like the 19th century, when
great powers took the time and the care
to savor the experience.
The British response to the Argentine
takeover of that island remnant of
empire has been perfect, absolutely per
fect. The Queen’s national security advi
sor has not been seen franitcally scuttling
from TV interview to TV interview in a
demeaning ef fort to save his job. No, in
deed. Lord Carrington submits a manly
resignatin to the prime minister in ack
nowledgement of the “humiliating”
affront to the national diginity.
The prime minister accepts it with “a
heave hear,” and then launches an arma
da of fighting ships to “recover the Falk-
lands for Britian.” Margaret Thatcher,
understanding the dramatic require
ments of the moment, quotes Queen Vic
toria: “The possibility of failure does not
exist.”
by Am)
Battalion I
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From the splendors of Oxford and the
revels of London to the decadence of
Venice and North Africa, we followed
Charles Ryder and the Marchmains
throught their temptations of flesh and
spirit.
When, finally. Sir Laurence Olivier
accepted the consolations of the chruch
just before expiring at the end
of the deliciously protracted deathbed
scene, the timing was exuisite. To go
from Olivier’s final whispers and
Charles’ painf ul parting from Lady Julia
just in time to switch the dial to the high
drama of the Georgetown-North Caroli
na NCAA basketball final was to experi
ence the most emotionally satisfying
evening in television history. The absolu
tion granted Lord Marchmain had its
perfect real-life echo in Georgetown
But this so swift, stupid retaliatory
strike — a launch-on-command of super
sonic missies carrying their destructive
warheads through space before human
judgement — has verified the provoca
tion.
These are ships of the fleet, leaving
Portsmouth with bands and bunting, to
the cheers of the townspeople lining the
quay. One need hardly mention that, of
course, the Queen’s son, dashing Prince
Andrew, is aboard.
Editor’s note: The following story is true.
I he mimes have been changed to protect
the innocent — and the single.
T hey will steam slowly towards the
Falklands, allowing time for diplomacy
— and for the drama to build. The race
of people that staged the royal wedding,
that gave Dickens’ genius full rein on
stage, that led us to the final moment of
that leisurely saga of Brideshead just in
time to see the duel of Patrick Ewing and
(aptly named) James Worthy — such a
people, I say, can be counted on to hand
le the Falklands crisis in style.
Bravo, Britian!
Erma Bombeck has been facing these
problems all her life, but it’s taking me a
little time to get used to it.
A few innocent words, overheard and
misunderstood, almost had me walking
down the aisle. It was news to me — and
to my “betrothed.”
It was like that old game of “tele
phone" you used to play during recess in
elementary school on rainy days. You
know, the one where you whisper a mes
sage to the person next to you and by the
time the last person gets it, the first per
son no longer can recognize the message.
It all started with a real phone conver
sation I was having with an old friend
from high school. We were discussing all
the things old friends usually discuss:
who’s getting married, who’s having
babies and who’s getting divorced.
We also reminisced about old and new
flames in our lives and I brought up an
angelique
copeland
old beau, Mark, and the fact that we once
had considered marriage. And now,
years later, there is a new Mark on the
scene. I even have to remind old f riends
that even though the name hasn't
changed, the person has. Eavesdroppers
would have to listen closely to make the
distinction.
Unfortunately, they didn’t listen c lose
ly enough.
In a matter of hours, the news of my
overheard “engagement” spread among
my f riends. Friend A fold Friend B, who
told Friend C. T hey all agreed that it was
strange that Mark (new) and 1 were keep-
sity.
, .■“We only rec
mg our engagement quiet, but! 5 J 0() | S because
not strange enough because tliet s ilported instin
discussed it. tbev never asked tut. sAl. “Sometimes
But it’s .til harmless enough,:places on the hot
Right. Until Friend C called h//
mother to offer congratulationsuB
impending nuptials. It was deftH
news to her.
When Mark got home that nij
mother confronted him, wanm
know win he hadn't told her hen
ling'mat ried. It was definitelyik
him.
Mark c alled me and wanted t«l
why 1 hadn’t told him we weregfl
married. It was definitely newsfoij
We f inally traced the “news’
the source and
United Press
DALLAS —
'farty survey tea
las a final inspec
a possible site fi
set everyone, inili tional conventio
Mark's mother, straight aboutourM t) GOP Chaim
al status. jjaid.
If there is a moral to be gleaned Ip The team ir
this story of overheard, exagerateth committee cha
riage, then it must be this: If youie? Richards and si
to eavesdrop, get it right. Audi! ^. c<)nvt ' 1 ' , ‘ olls ' 1
think the news sounds strange,cal • t \ ei s '
before you call inv mother.
Slouch
By Jim Earle
KRUTiuipt
lull nuy
‘He values his privacy when he’s on the phone.”
Tearful reunion for war ‘orphans
This is t he sit
mittee’s final vis
they will say, y
by Antonio Kamiya
United Press International
settle in the country.
“That’s the basic document of identitv
TOKYO — The Japanese recently re
ceived a tearful reminder of their war
with China and the chaotic days follow
ing World War II.
Television and newspapers focused
day after day on the plight of a group of
60 Japanese “war orphans” who came
from China on a government-sponsored
trip to search for their long-lost relatives.
They are among thousands of
Japanese who were displaced in northern
China 37 years ago.
T hey returned to their homeland with
tales that stirred the nation to tears.
Some spoke of social ostracism, others
of political persecution, but most ex
pressed their desire “to return in the
armfold of the motherland.”
One 42-year-old woman and her
father were reunited through matching
accounts of how they shared a meal of
horsemeat after the father killed the
animal during a long journey from the
Manchurian hinterlands to Fushun, a
coal mining town in northeast China.
“This is the most happy moment in my
life,” said the 77-year-old father, hug
ging his sobbing daughter with trembling
hands before a battery of press cameras.
Like others, they were meeting at a
reunion session organized by the Minis
try of Health and Welfare, sponsors of
the two-week trip for the 30 men and an
equal number of women from Liaoning
and Heilongjiang.
that we act upon,” said a Welfare Minis
try official. “And in our files we have
about 900 people asking for our help to
locate their Japanese parents.”
Some said they tried to
Japanese identity in China fori
discrimination.
These Japanese descendants are eager
to return, they said, because they are still
haunted by memories of persecution be
fore T okyo normalized diplomatic rela
tions with Peking in 1972.
Even at the height of the naii
euphoria about the reunion oftkl
orphans,” concern was raised on to]
repatriates, alien to the Japanese aif
and lifestyle, would adapt to the if
knit Japanese society.
But most of them ref used to enter spe
cific charges beyond a general reference
to “persecution” during the now-
discredited Cultural Revolution. At that
time they were harassed by the Red
Guards and ostracized at their work
places, many of them said.
T he concern is real enough.
One repatriate committed suicidff
year, leasing a note comphiiiiifl
“loneliness.” Another became nei®
and stabbed two neighbors after aS
quarrel.
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A few chose to return to Ch
ing it too difficult to adjust to lifeinl
countrv.
the small society
by Brickman
To buttress their skimpy childhood re
collections, the “orphans” brought along
every bit of evidence they could muster
— mostly a few fading snapshots.
Brought up by Chinese foster parents,
they no longer speak Japanese and some
cannot even remember tfieir Japanese
names or the name of their parents.
All 60 who came to Japan in search of
their kin were issued an official Chinese
document that certifies the bearer as a
“person of Japanese descent.”
T he document entitles the person to
official Japanese help in tracing relatives
in Japan and, failing that, a chance to
,
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