My sweet father passed away last year.  A gentleman  and a gentle man  to the core, he was never one to want the limelight or seek attention for himself, preferring instead to be a constant rock that we all, because he never demanded otherwise, probably took way too much for granted. Even when he was in the last stages of Alzheimer's disease he was easygoing, accepting of his lot and always thinking of others first.  When he left us in January of 2006 there was a void that, for me, quickly filled up with my father's essence -- gentleness and acceptance.  This was his final gift and his legacy.

It is unfortunate that, for the most part, we are unable to fully acknowledge the outrageous power inherent in gentleness.  If is often, in our culture, perceived as weakness.  If gentleness were loud and aggressive like the elements currently representing power in our society, it would convince us of our error.  But that, of course, is not its nature.