Eons ago, Chinese philosopher Lao-Tze noted gentleness as the first quality required of a leader.

Not so today. 

In a world now dominated by threats, conflicts, greed and forceful, boasting people, this nurturing quality is not seen as an asset. Especially by those who seek to overpower and manipulate us.

Unused is the alluring, beautiful, seductive power of a gentle word or touch.

Overlooked is the enormous and moving strength each can transmit.

Many confuse gentleness with weakness not realizing it requires strong character and great spirit to be gentle.  

Yet we can easily see that our world is none the better for loss of this virture.

While we don’t bow to brute force or give way to edicts, our world is a much less civil place. Largely without nuance or grace.

For those who long for a less harsh existence, Garrison Keillor suggests that we find and exercise gentleness in our everyday life … “through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music, and books, raising kids—all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through.  Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.”

We must be deliberate in building our own campfires. Giving ourselves in good measure the gift of kindness.  Tenderness. Then we can invite in others and together indulge in the magical, seductive, compelling, healing nature of gentleness.

Just like little lambs.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 11:22 am and is filed under Garrison Keiller, Gentleness, Senses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.