Life Story - Lajos B.

Life Story Number: 
18
Name: 
Lajos B.
Life Story video: 
Location: 
Madison, WI
United States
See map: Google Maps
recording date: 
Sat, 08/28/1999
transcript: 
I am Lajos Barros, and as you can recognize from my first words I am a alien resident. Actually, I am a citizen of the United States of America, very proudly. Not eProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 ryone has such a high honor, to be citizens. You know, they say, the Pilgrims never had any citizenship papers. See when I came then, they selected the good people. They didn't allow anyone, that time they allowed everyone. Anyway, besides that, the accent, the lousy accent and name recognized that I am talking with a tube on my head. Well that's oxygen. Again thanks to high technology. I have emphysema and oxygen keeps me alive. Theoretically I should be dead. Yet here I am sitting in my Cavorkian chair. You know doctor Cavorkian from Michigan? Who help people like me, to ah, not to suffer too long. And I call it Cavorkian chair because one of his patients or victim, whatever you name the guy had emphysema like me and for 5 years he was sitting in that chair, doing all his activities, he couldn't move anything, he had his tubes on, everything, after 5 years he said "that was too much." So that's the reason I call this chair, my Cavorkian chair. When the time comes I call him, but I can't call him anymore, ya know, cause he was convicted. Well tough luck, we have to find someone else. So anyway, as I noticed and you noticed, they're people that listen to this, that I have an accent, a heavy accent, and that quite often brought up in my mind not only that I have an accent, I have a name, nobody can pronounce it. And quite often I think, I really should have changed my name to John Smith. Ya know, everyone could pronounce it, but still my accent would stick around. So anyway, I came in 1957 to the U.S. as one of the heroes of the Hungarian revolution of 1956. You probably heard about it, we tried to beat the Commi's, and then Nixon came and the U.S. promised all everything. And actually the Hungarian refugee problem was solved the best, of all refugee problems. In 3 months all refugees were placed. Well their was certain guilt feeling, of betrayal because Eisenhower promised that, oh well just fight against the Russians, we'll help you. Hell no. They didn't help. So the Russians came and beat the hell out of the Hungarians. But certainly the Hungarians deserved it, they were just as fascistic as the Germans. If any Hungarian sees this, they will be upset, they'll hunt me down. But that's the fact of life. So what else should I say? I live here in Madison, Wisconsin. Which city, is a wonderful city to live, because according to money magazine, it is the second best place in the U.S. to live. You see, cause we are a parasite city. Here we have the state bureaucracy, bureaucrats are living well, the university and no dirty industries. So it's a good place and I lived here and I had a good life. So therefore, I really don't worry too much whether doctor Cavorkian comes or not. Well when things go over. Well what else should I say? I guess that's over, all this five minutes what you give me, just to warm up. I supposed it was enough, was it? How do I finish up... Actually it is a warning to anyone who is smoking, to stop smoking, because I think smoking caused my emphysema.