Winning Words 12/10/12
“There are men too gentle to live among wolves.”  (James Kavanaugh)  “Gentleman” isn’t a word that’s used much anymore.  Last week I had conversation with someone about a man who was truly, gentle.  This led me to the poetry of Kavanaugh.  I Googled him and was fascinated, especially by the poem containing today’s quote.  In this world of wolves, it’s refreshing to find people who are gentle.  Do you know any?    ;-)  Jack

 FROM RS IN MICHIGAN:  I am so appreciative that my husband is one of the last true gentlemen. From small things like saying thank you for everyday things that I do for him to opening my car door for me every time we go anywhere. Most importantly, he is KIND. He is a gem and I am so lucky to have him. His family is “a little rough around the edges”, yet he had a mentor in high school that he worked for that taught him how to be a man…a gentleman. His family is loving, but I tease him and tell him that he is the “Marilyn Munster ” of his family. You know, the only “normal” one! We laugh about it. FROM JACK:  I thought that you were going to write that he was the Marilyn Manson of his family.  We are fortunate when we have mentors who come into our life.////RS:  I am cracking up that you even know who Marilyn Manson is. You are so “hip”.

 FROM MY LAWYER:  Isn't it ironic that congressmen refer to each other as "gentleman" to their face and spend the rest of their time trying to out maneuver them by any means possible?////FROM JACK:  Think what this world would be without some sense of decorum.  The rule of law provides for order, but the rule of decorum provides for niceness.

 FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE:  A good book to read:  Wicked River, by Lee Sandlin. He spoke at our library last month. Many, many things I hadn't known about the Mississippi in the 1800's. Swiftly changing borders, flat boats down river taking a few weeks, but the rest of the year to walk back home - no engines then for power, etc. Quite interesting.////FROM JACK:  At times "The Father of Waters" is no gentleman.  It's interesting that the word, wicked, traces it's meaning to an Old English word that refers to a witch, or to something that is evil, by nature.////HG:  Indians and settlers alike thought there was some witchcraft involved.////JACK:  I think the word is anthropomorphism...giving human characteristics to non-human objects.

 FROM WALMART REV:  Tis the season . . . "GENTLE SHEPHERD, come and lead us, For we need You to help us find our way. Gentle Shepherd, come and feed us, For we need Your strength from day to day. There’s no other we can turn to Who can help us face another day; Gentle Shepherd, come and lead us, For we need You to help us find our way."////FROM JACK:  Would it be appropriate to refer to Jesus as "a gentleman?"////REV:  As for the Son of Man...probably welcomed by Him...He is certainly my hero of such a nature.

 FROM PASTY PAT:  One son, a brother-in-law and a good friend --- probably some others if I thought about it a few minutes.  While I love and thoroughly enjoy them, I always worry that they're just not tough enough to survive this world!l////FROM JACK:  In the game show, Survivor, it's not always the "nice" one who wins.  Which brings to mind, "What does it mean to win in the game of life?"

 FROM HONEST JOHN:  How does one define "gentle?"    Was Jesus a "gentle" person?   If so, does the definition given fit his lifestyle?FROM JACK:  Maybe Jesus is the definition of "gentle," if, indeed, G-d sent his Son into the world to show us "G-d" in human form.

 FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS:  What is the name of the poem?////FROM JACK:
There are Men Too Gentle to Live Among Wolves  (James Kavanaugh)

"There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who prey upon them with IBM eyes
And sell their hearts and guts for martinis at noon.
There are men too gentle for a savage world
Who dream instead of snow and children and Halloween
And wonder if the leaves will change their color soon.

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who anoint them for burial with greedy claws
And murder them for a merchant's profit and gain.
There are men too gentle for a corporate world
Who dream instead of Easter eggs and fragrant grass
And pause to hear the distant whistle of a train.

There are men to gentle too live amount wolves
Who devour them with appetite and search
For other men to prey upon and such their childhood dry.
There are men too gentle for an accountant's world
Who dream instead of Easter eggs and fragrant grass
And search for beauty in the mystery of the sky.There are men too gentle to live among wolves

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who toss them like a lost and wounded dove
Such gentle men are lonely in a merchant's world
Unless they have a gentle one to love."

 FROM SS IN MICHIGAN:  Apparently I have lived a blessed life...among the Gentle Men in my life I can name my father and my husband....how lucky am I!////FROM JACK:  I like the word, blessed.  It means to be favored by God.  We receive many blessings in this life, but, too often, they are taken for granted.  It's good that you appreciate how God have favored you.

 FROM CL IN CALIFORNIA (?):  It does seem that today we have fewer Gentlemen than I remember in the past.////FROM JACK:  I remember when the sign on the men's rest room read: GENTS.  Now, it's usually just a stick figure picture.BTW, the founder of Jack Daniel's Distillery was called, Gentleman Jack.

 FROM ILLINOIS LIZ:  i am a gentle wolf.////FROM JACK:  Perhaps you are a feral child, a modern version of Romulus and Remus.

 FROM JS IN MICHIGAN:  My father was a true gentleman.  Our school superintendent is a true gentleman and I have told him so.////FROM JACK:  Is it by contrast with wolves that we see the gentleman, or is it by contrast with the gentleman that we see the wolves?  

 FROM JT IN MINNESOTA:  yes,  I have known some truly "gentle men"  throughout my life.  And now I meet some again in the Support Group for caregivers of care receivers with dementia.  One "gentleman" whose health is very fragile and he is caring for his wife with Alzheimers, told me,  "I should be dead.  I have actually died several times and now I know why I am still here."  His mission is caring for his wife.  He goes to church every day.  and gets upset with us in group when we get kind of complainy.  He tells a funny story and we all laugh again.////FROM JACK:  I like the word, nice.  The gentleman in your group seems like a nice man.