So, János, you are turning four score years.
One old “grump” sends another his very best wishes for good health, peace of mind, and a lot of money! Had I been able to join the celebration in person, I would venture to speak publicly of you. I’d tell the gathering celebrants some of what I recall about you.
I’d tell them about your creative input in the construction and maintenance of the annual Medieval Workshop at the University of British Columbia, years before you took the venture at CEU. I’d tell them about your injecting it with a respectable dose of international participation.
But I’ll also pretend to complain about your planting the seed and leaving the cultivation, irrigation, harvest, and accounting behind you while you “frolicked” in far away places with exotic names.
I’d tell them – though it is too late now – not to be scared of your façade of hollering in anger; I’d tell them that it is fake, and the test would be for one to holler back at you and watch you turn into a bleating lamb.
I’d tell them about the network of friends, colleagues, and former students who, upon the mention of your name, unroll a red carpet to a visitor – your “ambassador” to their courts. I’d tell them about my visit to Romania and Lithuania (where this was my experience).
I would not tell them about your warmth and kindness; if they do not know by now, there is no use telling them. Nor would I tell them about your driving, whether in Vancouver or in Budapest.
But I’d tell them about our excursions in search of old synagogues, mosques and minarets in your beautiful country; about your cuisine (your fame in Vancouver for lasagne), about excursions to old-fashioned open markets, looking for fish restaurants, etc. etc.
But by then I’d be tired and would want to stop, thinking to myself, “Why tell them? If they don’t already know the real Mensch named János, there’s no use telling them”.
I’ll raise a cup of wine, Compañero, and drink it to your health. May you live to be a hundred and one.
As always,
Hanna
Hanna Kassis
