A Soulful Journey

“Napoleon himself supposedly took the precaution of having diamonds sewn into the lining of his overcoat before riding off to the battle of Waterloo.” –Newsweek 6/1982 A realist?  Or optimist?  Perhaps the  answer is an indication of who we are.

There is an old story told of Napoleon’s mother after he had been coronated as Emperor of the French empire.  She said, “It’s very nice if it lasts.”  - Michael Korda, Newsweek, 6/80

Alsatians complained to Napoleon that local Jews were ruining them through usury.   Napoleon answered their complaints on April 30, 1806 when he told the Imperial Council it was “dangerous to allow so large a preponderance of the Jews, who constitute a state within a state, in a part of the French empire bordering on the territories of its enemies.” His solution?   Instead of further segregating or persecuting the Jews Napoleon advocated a novel idea: equality and opportunity.