Fraternity-Testvériség, 1965 (43. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1965-03-01 / 3. szám
6 FRATERNITY which he without a word puts into alcohol after the satisfaction of his curiosity. Dictionaries are very similar to the test tubes of surgeons, because the words found on their pages are not related to each other and exist there without life but yet convincing. An expression which, printed on a poster, can work rebelliously or cynically, calmly lives there for an eternity as an idea. The word “blood”, if one says it, can be a word commanding an attack aiming at conquest and can mean vengeance, crime or tragedy. In dictionaries, it merely signifies the equivalent of the fluid in veins of living beings — nothing more. Dictionaries also make real the idea of peace, the peace which man needs and longs for as a surcease from the nerve wracking sounds of harsh, rough words ringing in his ears. Dictionaries resemble a huge block of marble in which the masterpiece is already present. They only await the genius of the artist to combine the words in such a way as to make them worth saying — an artist such as Michelangelo, who sculptured David out of a shapeless piece of marble. Dictionaries know that there are some words which have only their literal meaning (e. g., pain), and that there are others which have also a figurative meaning, part of which they may lose •— like shares on the stock exchange. In spite of all this, dictionaries preserve all expressions, even those which during many epochs are not pleasing to men, and they preserve them in all existing languages. They do that because they are conscious of the fact that “In the beginning was the Word . . .” and that out of all human effort there will be only the memory left in the end. Dictionaries say laconically, but of course, with a raised forefinger: man — life — death — God! Oh yes, before these words and after them, dictionaries quote many thousands of words and expressions, but the true initial and final meaning of all together is only those four. Everything else is merely trimming. SOCIAL SECURITY PROBLEMS Question: I applied for Social Security, but did not receive any checks in 1964 because I continued to work. Should I file a report? Answer: Yes. The form used has a question about your earnings for each month, and if there were one or more months in which you earned less than $100, you can be paid for those months regardless of your total earnings for the entire year. Actually, when the form is received, Social Security will then “balance your account”, that is, determine if you were paid more checks than were due you or you received less than you should have.
