William Penn Life, 2012 (47. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2012-08-01 / 8. szám
Tibor's Take with Tibor Check, Jr. Adapting to survive THE GROUND IS SOFT, but that is no surprise. A few terrible years of violence, pillaging and chaos have left the soil infused with blood and ash. Just a few years ago, your kingdom was peaceful. Then, in what seems like a second, everything began to change. Your supporters dispersed to faraway lands, your people became frightened, and many of your soldiers perished. You don't know whether to support and welcome some strange newcomers to your land. Even though they are allies, can you really trust them? The wheat fields are barren, castles are broken and crumbling, and the towns are filthy and abandoned. Everywhere you look, there are problems, and you seem to find only the old, sick and frail. You have to rebuild, but your head swims. How can you do this? What can you do? Will you be successful? Worst of all: Where do you start? This bleak reality confronted King Béla IV of Hungary. The year was 1243, and the Mongol and Tatar hordes had just swept through the kingdom. They looted, robbed, vandalized and killed indiscriminately. Yet, even though the invasion was terrible, it was surprisingly mild for the Mongols. Before the attack, King Béla had sent a monk to the East to find long-lost bands of Magyars. What that monk found was starkly different: a massive barbarian force planning to invade Europe. Hurrying back, the monk told King Béla. Preparations were made, but the effectiveness of those preparations was limited by infighting and incompetence. Still, even a little bit of vision softened the inevitable blow of the Mongol hammer. What happened to Hungary in those years after 1241 was the reason why history calls Béla IV the second founder of the nation. He commissioned great building projects. He granted titles to local leaders but on the condition that each build castles and fortresses. He made large towns build walls and gave the Cumans (a Turkic people who are a distant relation of the Hungarians) the deserted land between the Danube and Tisza rivers. It was this strategic vision that enabled Hungary to not only rebuild but prosper. It was the fortresses that Béla IV commissioned that proved to be the main line of defense when the Ottomans invaded Europe. It was this King's strategic vision that made a Hungarian future possible. Without it, Hungary could have been divided and absorbed into larger European states. Luckily, Hungary had leadership at the right time. The most frequent cause for a civilization's fall is it's failure to adapt when the conditions which led to its rise change. They lack a leader like Béla IV, one willing to make the tough decisions—decisions affecting traditions and legacies, demanding long hours of work and toil, and posing many difficulties. Such leadership does not come without personal sacrifice, and that is the legacy that my family shares with that long-dead king of Hungary. A few weeks ago, my father was browsing through articles online, and he stumbled across an announcement that the license for the radio station which broadcasts our Hungarian radio program-WKTL-90.7 FM-was in the process of being sold. With the sale of that station, the fufure of "Saturday Ethnic Programming" on this frequency is in danger. My family and the hosts of the station's other ethnic programs are planning to prevent the sale, though to me it appears that much of it is stillborn contingency planning. My father attended a meeting of the WKTL Booster Club where all the Saturday Ethnic Programming hosts were in attendance. Their collective response to this crisis was less than impressive. The radio hosts agreed to jointly attend the next meeting of the Struthers Board of Education. The group appointed my father to speak on behalf of Saturday Ethnic Programming at the Board meeting. After that, my father said, the others were packing up, putting on jackets and closing purses. They were leaving. I told my father that such an unexceptional course of action would be a pointless endeavor. He outlined for me his protestations, how he will appeal to educational legacies, to heritage and to the community. For several days, I had heated discussions with my father over what course of action to take, and what content I should include in this month's Take. I was not in attendance at the Booster Club meeting. Unfortunately, business took me to Washington, D.C. on the day of the meeting. The next school board meeting for Struthers was on July 17 when I was in Brussels, Belgium. As a result, prior to my departure for Europe, I worked feverishly to build a case, to put together resistance to bar the eventual sale of the Souvenirs of Hungary. I found there is something that all of us can do: file an informal objection to the application to renew the license with the FCC. I drafted a form letter that anyone can sign and submit to the FCC. But, even if I can get 1,000 people to sign and submit such objections, that may not be enough. Reasonably, it looks like no one will. During the meeting of Saturday Ethnic Programming hosts, my father, much like 6 0 August 2012 0 William Penn Life Today's Hungarian Americans can leam a lesson from King Béla IV.
