Monday, March 23, 2009

Napoleon In Moscow


"In quiet, untroubled times every administrator believes that it is only by his efforts that the whole community under his jurisdiction is kept going, and in this consciousness of being indispensable finds the chief reward of his labor and efforts. As long as the historical sea remains calm, the pilot-administrator in his frail barque, holding onto the ship of the people with a boathook and moving along with it, naturally imagines that it is by his efforts that the ship to which he is clinging is propelled. But let a storm arise, let the sea begin to heave and the great vessel to be tossed about, and such a delusion is no longer possible. The ship sails under its own prodigious, independent power, the boathook no longer reaching the moving vessel, and the pilot, instead of being the master, the mainspring of power, is suddenly reduced to a useless, insignificant, feeble man."

According to Mr. Tolstoy, we are all insignificant insects in the face of historical imperative. God, I love the Russians. Napoleon marches on Moscow tonight. Thousands of Russians died as he marched towards Moscow, thousands of French will die as he marches back, and for what?

I dunno campers. I'll let you know when we get there.

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