Nehru and Napoleon: Men of Stuff..!

By Robert Clements. Dated: 12/7/2019 11:55:19 AM

As I look at today's world leaders I wonder where men and women with stuff in them have disappeared; statesmen, who when they rose to speak, spoke without jeer and sarcasm. Leaders who were loved and revered not feared.
Where have such people gone?
There's this story that when Napoleon escaped the island of Elba, the French government issued an order that he was to be shot on sight when found. Napoleon landed in Cannes where joined by a few loyal friends, he faced the French army, the army of which he had once been commander in chief.
The scene was dramatic: Six thousand soldiers with their guns loaded and bayonets drawn faced him in battle formation, and the little man stood before them in his grey overcoat, high boots and cocked hat. The order was given to fire but not a sound was heard.
"Soldiers!" said their former Emperor, "If there is one among you who would kill me, here I am; do so!"
Seized by wild enthusiasm, the soldiers threw their guns down and rushed towards the little man shouting, "Long live the Emperor!"
Must have had some stuff in him right for this to happen? Today our leaders surround themselves with bodyguards after each speech of hate!
And here's another on the little man: One of Napoleon's soldiers was shot in battle. The bullet entered his breast near the heart. He was taken to the hospital where a surgeon tried to locate the bullet. As the doctor went on with his probing, nearer and nearer the heart, the soldier groaned, "An inch deeper and you will find the Emperor!"
Are there leaders today who are imbedded in the hearts of their people? Alas, no!
India's blind and talented writer Ved Mehta wrote this about Nehru's personality: "Our Prime Minister's features are pure Brahmin; his button up coat and tight pajamas seem Mughal; his presence nobly Indian."
"When he speaks he has a regal air of a king in a durbar. His intellectual grasp appears Asian and Western, ancient and modern. I feel I am confronting Sanskrit, Mughal and English India with their extremes but without their contradictions, all in one man!"
Well, well, well, that was Nehru and Napoleon; men of stuff, whose kind we hardly find today, what we do see now are not men of stuff but stuffed dummies mouthing stupid stuff, stuff on which a world of terror is slowly being shaped!
What this world needs once more are men and women of stuff..!
bobsbanter@gmail.com

 

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