When I return to Hungary, I return also to a near universal unease between the Roma and Hungarians. I alluded to this in earlier posts during our year here, in an entry comparing Hungarian with American hopes and heroes, and more extensively in an entry about Martin Luther King.
The other day a group of little kids, 7, 8, maybe 9, approached me for a match. I said in English I didn't understand, and it was true, I really didn't understand how these little guys could be smoking, but I was also timidly hiding behind a language barrier: if I were to speak any kind of Hungarian, I ought to condemn their request, because if I were to answer their question directly--No, I don't have a match--I'd be condoning their behavior. In response to my unassailable English, the lead boy kept saying, Egy gyufát? Van gyufát? Gyufa! Gyufa!
Were I to tell this story to someone here, the first question would most likely be whether or not these were gypsy children, and then I would have to say yes, and then there'd be some variations in the resulting commentary, focusing on gypsies in Barcs, or the gypsy ways, or the sad cycles of poverty -- depending on the politics.
But I don't know what my story means either.
Yesterday, the Sunday New York Times printed an article entitled, "Are the Roma Primitive, or Just Poor?" It's the reason for this post.
The other day a group of little kids, 7, 8, maybe 9, approached me for a match. I said in English I didn't understand, and it was true, I really didn't understand how these little guys could be smoking, but I was also timidly hiding behind a language barrier: if I were to speak any kind of Hungarian, I ought to condemn their request, because if I were to answer their question directly--No, I don't have a match--I'd be condoning their behavior. In response to my unassailable English, the lead boy kept saying, Egy gyufát? Van gyufát? Gyufa! Gyufa!
Were I to tell this story to someone here, the first question would most likely be whether or not these were gypsy children, and then I would have to say yes, and then there'd be some variations in the resulting commentary, focusing on gypsies in Barcs, or the gypsy ways, or the sad cycles of poverty -- depending on the politics.
But I don't know what my story means either.
Yesterday, the Sunday New York Times printed an article entitled, "Are the Roma Primitive, or Just Poor?" It's the reason for this post.
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