Szilárd VAJDA's blog

United States of America. 2016. Election year. President Obama prepares his exit and he was the first black president in American history, we have to give him that! That is already a legacy! If he manages to convince Congress to shut down Guantanamo Prison in Cuba, that would be the cherry on top. Such an achievement would do more than ten libraries altogether. Apparently there is huge opposition from the republicans, but hopefully they will come to sense, and close once for all a shameful chapter in American history. [It is not to be forgotten the internment of Japanese Americans!]

Who's next? Candidates we have in abundance. With whom to start with? I flipped a coin and the reds won. Jeb Bush just did not managed to keep the pace with his father and his brother's fame, and he recently abandoned the presidential race. Probably it was a wise decision, and you just simply can not go against the voters. He did not had real support from the voters. However, the race continues with Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and I am not even considering the rest because they do not have any chance to be nominated as presidential candidate. On the other side of the aisle, there is Hillary Clinton, former First Lady, and Bernie Sanders a senator from Vermont. The rest of the candidates already perished. It was just not their lucky year! Maybe next time!

If you listen the promises of all the candidates you can find many things. Some they want to punch people, ban muslims from the country, some they call each other liars, some others want to build fences to protect the country from illegal immigrants, some others want free education and free healthcare, and all of them want to reconcile the African-Americans with the white majority. It is a sensitive issue, and nobody likes to talk about racial segregation, but racism is deeply rooted in the american society and it is far from being eradicated. I am certainly sure that not the next president - whoever would hold that position, will solve this issue. Long-long time and education might help to tear down those walls built over last few centuries. One man can not do it, not even POTUS!

One of the most important slogan in the campaign is "helping and supporting the middle class families". Everybody is telling the same story, but nobody does a thing to help those who are most represented in the american landscape. They do the work, they represent the economical power in the country, but apparently nobody really cares about them, and they start disappearing, and rather merging with low-income class families. Same trend is to be observed in Europe. 

Whom should be elected? And let's not talk about the weird election scheme which they have in place to elect the president, the most important guy in the country. America [...]

We can elect a racist, narcissistic Donald Trump who is definitely using a non-PC rhetoric, and many people as he mentioned them "poorly educated" people love him for that. Definitely, he is a completely new figure in the landscape, and he is winning states after states. That is reality. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio come from Hispanic families, and therefore they have a huge support from the Hispanic community. However, they both are coming from Ivy League universities, and their carrier separated a long time ago  from those Latino communities where nowadays they entreat votes. They are educated people and they have the skills necessary to lead, but they have to prove their value first. And they should sort it out who is really the liar. Ben Carlson, a renewed neurosurgeon from Detroit is trying to fish some votes here and there, but up to now no real success.

On the blue side, there is the only female candidate, a former First Lady, former Secretary of State and former senator from New York with a 25 year long history in the American Administration but with many problems in the pocket too. Dirty money coming from Wall Street, the Benghazi fiasco, and the e-mails are those things where he can be attacked and she is using the fame of his husband, former President Bill Clinton. And last but not least, a junior senator from Vermont, rather old and used, but with completely new ideas regarding social equality. Free education, free healthcare, gun control, etc. I am just wondering how all these things could happen in a society where even democrats refuse everything which resonates with socialism. Can he turn America in a modern Europe? We will see ...

Meanwhile, there are debates and town hall meetings to come, where the candidates will try hard to convince the voters, but at the end of the day -rather year, America is going to elect a new president, the 45th one!           

Minden ember eltavozasa megrendito, de azok akik fontosak szamodra, ezok eltavozasa mely nyomot hagy benned, es bennem is. A nagyszuleim es nagybatyam utan egyik legjobb baratomat vesztettem el nagyon fiatalon. Nem is tudtam rola, csak mikor hazakerultem az egyetemrol. Ez tortent sajnos egy masik kedves baratommal es szomszedommal is, aki egesz gyerekkoromon keresztul vegig kisert, es vedett, es vigyazott ram. Ha o nem lett volna, maskeppen is alakulhatott volna az eletem. Elmentek, de a szivemben es az emlekeimben orzom oket es elonyomre valljon, barmikor tudok rajuk gondolni es beszelni veluk. Meghataroztak az eletem egy bizonyos reszet, es ezert halas vagyok nekik, es leszek mindaddig mig elek.

Es most eltavozott egy ember aki iskolas eveim alatt tanitott arra, hogy mi az, hogy sport, mi az hogy munka, mi az, hogy becsulet, es mindig biztatott, hogy tanuljak! Buszke volt arra, hogy hova jutottam. Keves ember van ki igazan tud orulni masok sikerenek, es o mindig biztatot, hogy tedd, mert te ezzel szolgalod neped es nemzetedet. Szerette volna, ha itthon maradnek es erdelyi magyar gyerekeket tanithatnek, de megertette, hogy most mashol van ram szukseg. Kaptam tole pofont es leteremtest, de kaptam tole jo szot es elismerest is. Valahogy nala ez igy volt rendjen, es nem is lehetett maskeppen. Amolyan kozeput nem volt [...]

Mielott eljottem volna Marosvasarhelyrol, ketszer is talalkoztam vele. Ma is el bennem, ahogy egyutt vacsoraztunk 2015 utolso napjaiban, es regi emlekeket meselt a gimnaziumrol, es az egyetemrol Kolozsvaron. Orvendett az unokaknak, az eletnek es a munkanak. De mar a borral csak csinjan bant, mondta, hogy neki mar nem kell annyi. Eleg foglalt voltam azokban a napokban -keszulni kellett a nagy utra akar Korosi, de valami megis azt sugta, hogy nem utasithatom vissza a vacsora meghivasat, es csodalatos este volt. Meghitt, csaladias, nevetessel, jokedvvel, borral es finom etellel. A butorok meg gyerekkorom ota leteztek, de mi mar csak ilyenek vagyunk, mindenunkhoz ragaszkodunk. Nem dobunk ki semmit. Es mindezek mellett meg tanitott is nekem valamit azon az esten. Bevallotta, hogy annyi ev utan a munka mezejen, o is csak nem olyan regen tanulta, pedig ha valaki ismerte a szakmajat, o ismerte. Es megosztotta ezt ott velunk az asztalnal, es ugy bucsuztunk el, hogy majd Skype-on beszelunk. 

Ugy hozta, hogy erre a beszelgetesre mar nem kerul(t) sor, de az a jo, hogy az ertekes embereket orokre magunkkal hordozzuk a szivunkban es az emlekeinkben, es halasak vagyunk nekik, mert az eletunk soran belejuk botlottunk, es igy vagy ugy hozzajarultak, hogy Emberre legyunk. Lehajtom a fejem es koszonom.