Riots, rubber bullets and miracles in Budapest

by: Scott L. Lunt
Budapest, Hungary
(published in: The Daily Universe, Oct, 27, 2006, Provo, UT, USA)

You know you’re in a strange place when you can smell tear gas from your front porch.

Yet, in Budapest, on October 23rd, 2006, that’s exactly the situation for me.

Today, a holiday commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution, the streets of Budapest have turned violent again. Thousands of citizens, mostly young men, are on the streets of Budapest doing their best to keep the thousands of police from making them go home. The police, for their part, are equipped with tear gas, water cannons, and riot gear. In other words, the situation is tense. And, for some reason, the police feel the need to push the protesters out of the streets.

Of course, underlying all of these protests are the events from 1956. Exactly 50 years ago, on October 23, thousands of protesters marched to parliament to demand changes to their government. The people were terribly oppressed: hungry, overworked, shamefully underpaid, living in fear of their own government. Finally it was too much. Across the Danube, on the 22nd, about two thousand students met and, in a radical move, elected to form their own student government, apart from the official one. But, they didn’t stop there. They formed a list of demands that included freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and, most importantly, the removal of Soviet troops from Hungary. The following day, the students and thousands of others marched together to parliament to deliver the demands. One side group went to the radio station and demanded that the list be read over the radio. They were turned away and the first shots were fired. Not with rubber bullets, but real ones. Over the course of the next several days, thousands were killed and injured in a horrible bloodbath.

In what can’t be a mere coincidence, this weekend marked another milestone in Hungarian history. In fact, just yesterday a wise man told me “this is truly an historic weekend in Europe.” That wise man was none other than David A. Bednar, newest apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elder Bednar was here in Budapest to preside at the first Stake Conference in the history of Hungary. Meanwhile, President Hinckley was in Finland dedicating the Helsinki temple. Elder Bednar’s message to the hundreds gathered at the Sunday conference session centered around faith in Christ. We’re all ordinary people, he said, but with faith in Christ we can do anything.

Indeed. But the power of the ordinary person seems more distant in a world full of tear gas and rubber bullets. And, I can only imagine, more distant still when those bullets are real. But, on the other hand faith, in a crisis situation, becomes more apparent than before. Choices become clearer, the line between dark and light is more apparent.

A world full of lies, violence and desperate people can’t bring happiness. Yet, as Elder Bednar reminded us, ordinary people with faith in Jesus Christ can change the world.

Following the conference, I attended the baptism of a wonderful woman from Peru named Doris. It was a beam of light in a frustrated city. Just a day earlier her twin sons had been baptized back in Peru. Truly a miracle.

So, as the tear gas guns keep us awake tonight, we can rest in the light of the Gospel that is shining down on Budapest. It’s not all rubber bullets and tear gas. Miracles truly surround us.
—

See all of the articles in this series:
Freedom Popcorn in Budapest
Riots, rubber bullets and miracles in Budapest
Arbitrary distinctions: A surreal visit to Auschwitz
Lessons from the Berlin Wall