6/6/2018 Lesson 7. Culture and Psychology

6/6/2018 Lesson 7. Culture and Psychology

When I was a child I heard my mom saying: “Unfortunately, Hungary was always on the wrong side of the war. During both of the World Wars we stood by the losers’ side”. After the 2 WW the Soviet occupation happened. These constant pressures molded the way how people think and act.

A 1991 piece in The New York Times entitled "Hungarians Are Thriving, Gloomily" reported that "Poll after poll shows this nation to be the gloomiest in Eastern Europe–more unhappy and more fearful about the future than neighboring countries where unemployment is twice as high, inflation is about to surge back into the double digits and nationalist extremists are whipping up old hatreds." The author also quoted Jozsef Antall who in an earlier interview had said, "A Hungarian will always see the worst. It comes in part from a peasant mentality, which will never predict a good harvest." Antall continued, "Just as there is American optimism, which is the motor of American life, so Hungarians have a tendency to be pessimistic. Every renewal in our history was always born in pessimism. Even our anthem is pessimistic."[1]

I am an optimistic person. I try to be optimistic. Sometimes, it is hard. It is in my mind, it is in my core, it is in my genes to be pessimistic, but I decided to overcome it and look for the bright future which we all can have if we give up our natural man/woman and submit our will to God.

I remember a joke once I heard. A Hungarian family moves to the US/UK. They put their child into daycare. The teacher from the daycare told to the parents, that they needed to bring their child to a psychologist because the child was drawing cruel things. The surprised parents asked what kind of things their child drew. The teacher answered, a burning snail.

The mom laughed and said: ”Oh, that’s not a problem. We have a children’s song like that. 

Snail-snail come out,
your house is on fire,
you'll get milk and butter,
there will be for tomorrow”

The teacher continued, “OK, and how about the blind crow?”

“That is another song, answered the father. 

Cheep, cheep, jackdaw,
Little blind crow,
My godmother asks for her cart,
I cannot give it to her,
The hens are sitting on it,
Shoo, shoo, shoo!”

The teacher continued, and how about the ear and tail less cow?

The mother responded, yeah, that is another song: 

“Spotted, spotted, cow, cow,
Has no ears and no tail
Where are we gonna live,
Where you can get some milk.”

The teacher could not endure this and quickly asked: “Don’t you have some happy songs?”

“Of course, we have” responded the mother. For example, 

“Come out, sun,

Bright sun!

My little geese are freezing in the garden.”

Know about our own culture is important as we cannot allow that, that it would negatively influence us. Once we know our own culture then we can enlarge our perspective and can learn about other cultures as well.

---

[1] http://hungarianspectrum.org/2009/03/11/hungarian-pessimism/