Itt-Ott, 1998 (31. évfolyam, 1/130. szám)
1998 / 1. (130.) szám
music and art works created in that small slice of time permanently entered into the lexicon of Hungarian culture? Do we pay homage to fallen youth — young men who gave their lives to prove the beauty of our nation, our language, our unique cultural legacy? Do we solemnly mourn innocence lost? Or do we remember the swell of pride which had been slowly brewing for years, culminating in three wildly romantic chain of events of March 15th? The young poets and writers, who made speeches at the Cafe Pilwax in the morning, creating a murmur that swept throughout the city. Mouth to mouth people spread the word of the new poem, the twelve points; so that by 3:00 in the afternoon the handful had turned into 10,000 people crowding the steps of the National Museum, then marching through the streets to the City Council. Enthusiastic crowds, hanging out the national colors, spontaneously and proudly displaying our heritage? Was it the birth of Hungarian pride? Is that what we commemorate? Or do we longingly recall the power of Hungarian unity? On July eleventh of that same year Kossuth Lajos addressed the parliament of that time and asked for their financial and moral support, to expand the army, to defend the nation, to decide the fate of the Hungarian people — and before he finished his speech, all the men assembled rose to their feet and cried „Megadjuk!" — we grant it. The entire hall filled with people of differing convictions, otherwise opposed, suddenly and unashamedly crying out their solidarity. Perhaps this event of unprecedented consensus compounded with the throng on the street singing the praises of our nation created a physical swell of togetherness — an event so momentous that it sent a shockwave throughout time and we still feel it reverberating to this day. The answer to the question I formed is undoubtedly different for every one present. We all must decide, individually what 1848 means to us. Before I realized that Hungary was a troubled nation struggling under the heavy burden of a foreign ideology; Before I came to understand that pessimism and melancholy were practically congenital characteristics of the Hungarian race; Before I realized any of this — being Hungarian was to me a sense of unity. It was groups of people gathering, whether at my parents' home or at the Magyar Ház in New York City or on the shores of Lake Hope. Hungarians together - and inevitably there was laughter and shouts and songs and dancing. There was joy in the unity; and it is the echo of that childhood joy that propels me on this day to love my culture. And I know that I was blessed with that joy, but also believe in it, in the love and pride and acceptance that is at the heart of our people. My early memories of joy and unity have reverberated through my life just as the shockwaves created from those early months of 1848 have reverberated in the United States. Even with an ocean, and other worlds and the noise of years of western popular culture between that day and this, we still wear our national colors and we still recite the Nemzeti Dal. That is my personal connection. I invite you all to share yours on this most hallowed eve of our greatest of holidays! Odd A. Prinzhoffer litográfiája: Kossuth Lajos (Sisa István: The Spirit of Hungary) 10 ITT-OTT 31. évf. (1998), 1. (130.) szám
