Gentleness - Periclean Scholars & Fruits of the Spirit Series

What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness? 1 CORINTHIANS 4:21

Today’s fruit of the spirit is gentleness. It relates to kindness in many ways but is its own fundamental virtue. I see gentleness as having strength with an even temper and tranquil spirit. This challenges most people’s idea of the source of strength and how to grow it, but the fruit of gentleness arises when someone is strong in the truest sense of the word.

What does it mean to be a “strong” person? In American society, we often associate strength with muscular ability, the number of drinks we can stomach, the amount of willpower we have, or courage to stand up to the bad guy. All of these things constitute strength in the most superficial sense. They are right, but they should not be the first thing that comes to mind.

I believe that strength comes from the acknowledgement of weakness, the internalization of another’s struggle, or the holding off of judgement. In many respects, this is the opposite of society’s view of strength. True strength is not hitting your wife; it’s listening to her. True strength is holding off on those drinks and taking watch over friends. True strength, in many cases, is not attacking the bad guy but showing him the path to virtue.

Strong relationships are woven with gentleness. The approach to international relations taken by the Periclean Scholars program is to select meaningful partnerships and then to spend time listening to them and getting to know their needs. The goal is not to impose American will on these communities, but rather to unpeel the layers of the societies’ greatest needs. We do not make war or shove our theories down their throats. We hold back the rods and guns and encourage the hugs and open ears.

The Periclean program grows gentleness first through the classroom setting. We read and write about our partner communities in the academic setting and synthesize all of the elements that have created certain outcomes. The second way that the Periclean program does this is through the community setting. We listen to the Elon and greater community’s perspectives on why issues are a certain way and then educate them about the layers that construct these issues. We show no anger toward others, accepting that they obtained their perspectives from as complete information as they had at the time. We believe that increased community knowledge increases compassion, especially on the international development front. The third way that we build gentleness is through our ground work. Interacting with our partners helps us to build an even more complete picture of why things are the way that they are. The layers are unpeeled, and we show true strength and gentleness in learning and simply accepting our partners’ lots in life as different and not inferior.

All aspects of the Periclean program have helped to make me a stronger and more gentle person. Granted, this is a fruit that I have not yet perfected - as I have not perfected any of them, in my opinion - but my heart is in the right place and I am on the right track because of the Periclean influence. I use more of my time and resources to ease someone’s burden, to set them free, and to use my inner strength for the benefit of others. This benefit becomes mutual, as the fruit of gentleness grows strong.