Verhovayak Lapja, 1947 (30. évfolyam, 1-24. szám)
1947 / Verhovay Journal
VOL. XXX. APRIL 30. 1947 NUMBER 8 Fraternal Week Starts With Mothers’ DayHungary’s First Lady Visits America — A Mother’s Day Editorial — There used to be something particularly nice about holidays and special seasons. Interrupting the monotony of routine living they stood out as events of importance preceded by feverish preparations and remembered, afterwards, with nostalgic happiness. Each holiday had its own special color, tone and mood derived from the event which it commemorated and the people, conscious of its significance, were deeply emotional in their response to the spirit of each festive occasion. Many a well meant, though rarely kept, resolution is made on New Year’s Day, but in the good old times every holiday was an occasion for making promises, pledges and amends. Christmas was the day for burying the hatchet, Easter for forgiving hurts and grievances, Fourth of July for the revival of patriotic sentiments and Thanksgiving for the renewed appreciation of family ties. It is quite possible that holidays had been multiplied through the ages because of their apparent moral and spiritual effects. Leaders of society frequently have promoted new holidays with the aim of counteracting defects of public morale. Many a legal holiday and special season has an incentive rather than commemorative purpose. And as more and more incentives seemed to be needed for the balancing of the increasing indifference of the public toward moral, social and patriotic issues, the list of holidays and special seasons was blissfully lengthened, until it covered the better part of the year. We have arrived at the point where a special significance has been added to each Sunday, while there is hardly a week in the whole year that has not been set aside for some purpose or other. In addition to the 52 Sundays and the more than a dozen traditional holidays we have scores of special holidays and seasons to cope with, like Army Week, Navy Day, Aviation Day, Constitution Day, Child Health Day, Arbor or Bird Day, Valentine Day, Flag Day, Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Children’s Day, plus the endless list of weeks or months set aside for national and community projects, ike “Write A Letter Week”, “Gardening Week”, “Weeding Week”, “Bake A Cake Week”, “Preserve Week” and what have you. Of course, the consequences of such indiscriminate wallowing in holidays and special seasons were not difficult to foresee. In fact, already 350 years ago Shakespeare voiced his doubts in King Henry IV., where he said: “If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work; But when they seldom come, they wish’d for come.” Yet, his warning- went unheeded. Holidays kept growing like mushrooms until the supply exceeded demand and indiffex-ence set in. Holidays and special seasons have become so frequent that a regular week-day or an ordinary Sunday seems like a welcome exception. There is nothing special about special events if they follow in uninterupted sequence. Attending church we are actually relieved to find an occasional old-fashioned Sunday which has not been set aside for some special notion (as if the Sabbath principle' would not be sufficient any more to warrant the observance of the seventh day . . .), and we rejoice upon entering a week that has not been designated for some obnoxious purpose of which we continually are to be reminded by radio, newspapers, speeches and fanfares. Yet, the end is not in sight and we may well end up with 364 holidays per year with one weekday reserved as a holiday from holidays. Right now ^Grandmothers’ Day is in the making and, once adopted, it stands to reason that Grandfathers’ Day will follow, ultimately to be joined by Grandchildrens’ Day. After that, it natux-ally will be our moral duty to remember the greatgrand parents and their greatgrand children and, in view of many a good deed done by uncles and aunts, some days will have to be set aside for them, too, poor souls . . . Once we are that far, nothing will keep us from having “Friendship Day”, “Neighbours’ Day” and it will take only another war to have “Butchers’ Day” and “Grocers’ Day” added to our stx-etchable calendar of holidays. And “Write A Letter Week” will have to be followed by “Send a Package”, “Read a Book”, “Go To Show”, “Have A Drink”, “Eat a Chicken” and, perhaps even, “Lay An Egg” Week (the latter, of course, for man’s feathered friend, the Hen . . .) In view of past and future developments it would be impossible not to see the growing indifference of the public toward all special seasons and holidays. The fact is that already many of our holiday and special seasons are kept going only by commercial pressure, while society still manages to hang on to the remnants of a few others, but the majority of the more recently created holidays and special seasons are shrugged off with annoyance by the public which one of these days will demand a “Leave Me Alone Year” . . . Please, believe us, we are not trying to be facetious . . . Our remarks are motivated by a sincere anxiety for the great moral values symbolized by the ancient holidays but completely overshadowed by the Tower of Babel of modern holidays and special seasons . . . And discouraged by the Babelian cacophony we hardly dare raising our voices in tribute to immortal values which are reduced to commonplace by their inclusion in the calendar of platitudes . . . Yet such is the fate of the two precious values of mankind which we are to remember today. Frateimal Week starts with Mothers’ Day on May 11th and, at this time, we ought to pay tribute to the Mothers and extoll the virtues of fraternalism. Motherly Love and Brotherly Love are the themes of our song but our gratitude, our esteem and reverence for both of these precious loves had been our inspiration for so many essays, poems and songs throughout all the days of the year and all the years of our life, that we ai'e unable to find the words which would lend themselves to the creation of a tribute surpassing all others ever paid by us, yet, nothing less would suffice on such special occasion. It is more than a strange coincidence, however, that this year’s Fraternal Week begins on Mothers’ Day. Love is the root, the basic principle of fraternalism, and love, as fulfilled in the hearts of mothers, is honored on Mothers’ Day. The two loves, though different in intensity and l’elation, are of identical essence. The two loves, actually, have more in common than is usually realized, for one cannot be true without the other . . . Let’s put it this way: can two brothers really love their mother if they hate each other? Are they really respecting and honoring her if they dislike or even despise the other life that has sprung from her ? Do they really love their mother if they are unwilling to help one fox» whom she has cared as lovingly and conscientiously as for her other child? But on Mothers’ Day we are honoring not only our own mother but all mothers. Can we reconcile our lack of bi’Otherly love with the great display of our reverence for mothers? Don’t we see how all of our prejudices, discriminations, dissensions, hostilities and selfish attitudes reveal the hypocritical nature of our Mothers’ Day reverence? Indeed, we bow to the mothers but their spirit we repudiate. We sentimentalize about motherly love, but, more often than not, despise its objects. We shed tears over the beauty of motherly love and then proceed to turn this world into a hell for the sons and daughters of our revered mojthers . . . The true Mothers’ Day senti-Mrs. Zoltán Tildy, wife of the President of the Hungarian Republic has arrived by plane in the United States. Americans of Hungarian descent all over the country extend to her a respectful welcome upon her first visit in our land. We understand Mrs. Tildy will appear in many of the larger Hungarian settlements and preparations are under way to assure her of a reception which will be a fitting expression of the respect in which President and Mrs. Tildy are held by our people. In Pittsburgh arrangements are being made for a token-banquet of bread and water for the benefit of the American Hungarian Relief movement by the Home Office of the Verhovay F. I. Association and chapters 2 and 117 of the American Hungarian Relief, Inc. This symbolic banquet will be held in honor of Hungary’s First Lady on Tuesday, May 13, in the evening. Thousands of American Hungarians in the Tri-State area are preparing to pay tribute to Mrs. Zoltán Tildy and, through her, to the President of the Hungarian Republic, the most outstanding representative of democratic convictions in Hungary, whose heroic struggle against all forces opposing the Four Freedoms has won him the unreserved respect of all Americans as well as Hungarians. Seven Heroes' Portraits To Be Presented May SI Members of four eastern-Pennsylvania branches will gather at the American Legion Hall in Throop, Pa., on Saturday, May 31st, tc pay tribute to seven heroes who had made the supreme sacrifice. Memorial Ceremonies in their honor will be held jointly by branches 11, McAdoo, Pa.; 42, Throop, Pa.; 158; Kingston; Pa.; and 174 Scranton; Pat — This is the brief record of the seven men whose portraits will be presented on this solemn occasion: ELMER L. KOPACHY, former member of Branch 11, 52nd fatal casualty of the Association in World War II., was killed in action on June 17th, 1944, the 11th day of the invasion of Normandy. MARTIN MÉSZÁROS, also from McAdoo, Pa., son of the former Manager of Branch 11, was killed in action in France, on October 29, 1944, at the age of 30. He was the 101st member of the Verhovay to die in the service of his country. STEPHEN J. KOBAR, former member of Branch 42, Throop, Pa., the youngest of six brothers serving with the armed forces, was killed in action in Germany on February 18th, 1945, at the age of 21. His name is the 132nd on Verhovay’s roll of hero dead. TECH. SGT. CHARLES ZIPAY, son of Michael Zsipay, manager of Branch 158, Kingston, Pa., was reported missing in aerial action over New Guinea, on October 3rd, 1943. No trace having been found of the B-24 Liberator on which he served, he was declared dead a year later by the War Department. He was the 93rd Verhovayan lost in World War II. PFC. EDWARD T. LLOYD, former member of Branch 174, Scranton, Pa., 76th hero dead of the Verhovay, was killed in action in the South Pacific on July 24, 1944. PFC. GEORGE LUKACH JR., also of Scranton, was killed in action in Germany, on February 23rd, 1945. He was Verhovay’s 133rd member killed in the war. PFC. STEPHEN J. NAGY, third member of Branch 174 and the 162nd of the Association to die in the field of battle, was killed in action in Germany on December 13, 1944. The assurances of lasting sympathy will be brought to the next of kin of these seven men in behalf of the membership of the Verhovay. In honor of those who had made the supreme sacrifice and their bereaved parents who suffered the greatest loss let all Verhovayans in the Scranton district attend the memorial ceremonies in Throop. ment was the cradle of frateralism. Those men who founded fraternal societies, did so because they wanted to provide for their own mothers and the mothers of their children . . . They wanted to make sure that they will not see want if cruel fate should deprive them of their supporters. Indeed, life-insurance was and still is primarily a tribute to motherly love. For the mothers of the founders and the mothers of their children fraternalism meant a roof over their heads, bread for their mouths and clothes to cover their bodies in the years of tragic loneliness . . . Fraternalism still means that and more. It means a home, health, education, and protection for those whom the mothers love . . . It takes care of those for whom the mothers care. It fights for the equality of those who are all equally precious in the eyes of their mothers . . . THUS, F R A T E RNALISM PRACTICES WHAT MOTHERS’ DAY HAS FAILED TO ACCOMPLISH. NO MORE FITTING TRIBUTE CAN BE PAID TO THE MOTHERS OF THE WORLD THAN THAT OF PRESERVING AND PROMOTING THE AMERICAN FRATERNAL WAY OF LIFE.
