Attitude Toward Life

The proverbial Magyar dissension and lack of perseverance are probably the legacy of those Turkic tribes which frequently formed short-lived nomadic empires bent on the conquest of the world and soon in collapse for no apparent reason. The dreamy, unrealistic optimism, the expectation of miracles is, perhaps, a tradition handed over by the stargazing poets of Mesopotamia.

The Hungarians’ volatile temper – easily aroused, easily pacified – their periodical complacency and smug conservatism also point to Mesopotamian sources.

The proverbial love of freedom and independence often hardens into rugged individualism, which rejects guidance or discipline, military or political. Only leaders with great personal appeal can unite them for any considerable length of time. When formal rejection of an authoritarian rule is not possible – though given half a chance they would rise against it – their resistance finds verbal expression in the form of political satirical humor –probably a Hungarian invention.

Another national vice, the excessive Hungarian pride – a Turkic legacy – causes them to look down upon those they consider “inferior”, whether other Magyars or foreigners, such as national Minorities.

All these qualities have a common denominator, a basic attitude toward life and mankind.

<em>- by ZOLTÁN BODOLAI Dip.Ed., Ph.D. (Budapest)
tutor of hungarian History and Culture, University of Sidney</em>