On Thursday in the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán described Sándor Lezsák as an advocate of Hungarian national culture upon presenting the Deputy Speaker of the House, József Attila Award-winning poet, President of the National Forum, the Bethlen Gábor Foundation and the Mindszenty Society, and founder of the Lakitelek Community College with the Grand Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit, civilian section.
In his laudation, the Prime Minister highlighted that Sándor Lezsák is working to restore the self-esteem of the Hungarian people in the entire Carpathian Basin because without this there is no future, and the nation’s self-esteem is the sum total of the self-esteem of the individuals that comprise it. “Our job is nothing more than to plant into coming generations of Hungarians the notion that being Hungarian is the greatest thing that can happen to them,” he added.
At the ceremony, Bertalan Havasi, the Deputy State Secretary heading the Press Office of the Prime Minister said, upon the recommendation of President of the Republic János Áder, the Prime Minister conferred the decoration upon Sándor Lezsák on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of communism, in recognition of his role in creating a free Hungary and developing the framework for Hungarian democracy, including the organisation of the Lakitelek meetings at the time of the change of regime, as well as in recognition of his outstanding political career spanning several decades during which he has been held in the highest public esteem.
Mr Orbán said Hungary is repaying an old debt when he presents the grand cross to Mr Lezsák. He observed it is a historical fact that in 1987 the change of regime started from his garden; at the same time, Mr Lezsák is receiving this decoration not for this, but for what he has seen through and completed.
“I remember that in the eighties there were many who were awaiting the end of communism, but there were far fewer who dared to do something about it, and only the bravest of them gave their names, faces and homes to the rebellion in the making,” the Prime Minister recalled, taking the view that Mr Lezsák was the first among the intellectuals coming from rural national cultural circles who recognised that “the time had come for an open conflict”. He decided to organise a crucial opposition meeting at a time when no one could foresee what consequences an uttered word or a sentence committed to writing could convey, the Prime Minister pointed out.
The Prime Minister highlighted that even after an outstanding political career and a significant literary life work, Mr Lezsák is still working with the same vigour and determination as three decades ago; he holds the office of Deputy Speaker of the House after several previous terms, manages the movement of community learning centres and takes care of the affairs of the Mindszenty Society.
According to Mr Orbán, many see Mr Lezsák as a mysterious figure, an enigmatic background operator, an unfathomable organiser of Hungarian politics; however, “the situation is far simpler than political puzzle solvers or modern-day Kremlinologists believe. Behind every decision, every movement, every initiative there is a single motivation: Sándor Lezsák is working to restore the self-esteem of the Hungarian people in the entire Carpathian Basin.” In his view, without this there is no future, and the nation’s self-esteem is the sum total of the self-esteem of the individuals that comprise it. He added that our job is nothing more than to plant into coming generations of Hungarians the notion that being Hungarian is the greatest thing that can happen to them.
“This is a kind of love affair that stays with you for life, that can elevate you to inconceivable heights, and can drag you down into unforeseeable depths. Hungarians are lucky because their lives can never become empty, or meaningless. They will never find themselves faced with the threat of the unbearable lightness of being, or of the sensation of futility, and so any doubt regarding the meaning of life, too, affords them a wide berth,” said the Prime Minister who thanked Mr Lezsák for having been an ambassador of that “love affair”.
The Prime Minister described the decoration as a sign of the gratitude of the entire Hungarian nation, and at the same time, he also congratulated Mr Lezsák on his 70th birthday.
Mr Lezsák recalled he had often been told in the years 1988-1989-1990 that the Lakitelek tent should have been erected again. He added they had kept on suggesting this until he had finally cut the tent into pieces and had sent the pieces to those who deserved them. He pointed out that he had done so because so many people had filled that tent with precious content, and had tried so hard to keep it together also in the ensuing years. He observed that he was unable to tear the grand cross he had just received into pieces, even if in his heart he would like to share it with others, and the people who in his view would deserve a piece would fill at least a sports stadium.
“Everything that has happened to me, to us, around us has been team work in which at times I felt – or fate would so guide me that – I can be the conductor, and must make those instruments produce music,” the Deputy Speaker of the House said. In his view, this also required empathy; to understand who should play which instrument, why and how. “I have always had my back to the audience, and it always disturbed me when the lights flashed upon me,” he continued his metaphor, and then thanked the Prime Minister for his trust and alliance.