I could love a man like that.

There are so many role models and heroes to be emulated and admired; Brilliant, gifted, spiritual and brave. This tribute is to a character who in my mind, fits that description of “Real Man” in every way.

Don’t laugh, I know you will, but Forest Gump will forever be a thought provoking amazement to me! I often ask myself, what was that great, entertaining book and movie created to be; a comedy, an adventure? I know it was to be a commentary on American culture of the era, but to me it’s a commentary on love.

Others may laugh throughout its unfolding portrait of one dim witted Southern hick’s life, but I find myself weeping, like a child at times. I mean, Forest Gump was an unrecognized national and personal treasure. A personal treasure to me, for the lessons his persona have taught me, and hopefully others.

You see, the whole premise of the story rests on one statement when a disgusted Jenny looks him dead in the eye and says, “Forest you don’t know what love is” and that’s the wonderment to me, HE DOES KNOW. Here is this nobody, with intelligence well below normal who puts to shame those who, with every reason to have a useful and enjoyable life, manage to fail.

Forest proves his capacity not only to know love but to prove it, over and over, quietly and perfectly In his devotion to “Mama” and acceptance of her advice and homespun pearls of wisdom, one of which, “Stupid is as stupid does,” was his continued shield from the sticks and stones of words that most certainly hurt. You see, Forest knew he was not smart he said his friend Lieutenant Dan didn’t want to be called a cripple, anymore than he wanted to be called stupid, though intimating that he knew the terms were accurate.

When he meets his son, Little Forest, his first concern and question asked with tears is, “Is he smart?” He made the statement to Jenny, that he was not a smart man, but he knew what love was, and indeed he did. Risking his life repeatedly in the throes of war to save His most good friend Bubba, Lieutenant Dan and others, Forest knew nothing of racial prejudice, in a time the South was rife with it. When asked in jest by Lieutenant Dan If he and his black friend Bubba were brothers He had to actually take a long look at his friend before replying in complete seriousness, “No Sir, we are not relations.”

Forest had such complete and simple faith in God, praying in church for the shrimp to show up and when the drunken first mate, Lieutenant Dan, shook his fist in God’s face Forest simply accepted the fact that in the fury of the storm, “God showed up.”

He was a generous and fair man sharing the wealth of his fortune with Lieutenant Dan and even his dead friend Bubba’s family, to whom he owed nothing. And then there was the depth of his love for his Jen-‘nee, spanning a lifetime and impervious to separation, neglect and outright rejection, he loved her as few women have been cherished, in life and still in death.

Recognizing the fact that sometimes there just aren’t enough rocks to kill a memory he bulldozes her abusive father’s old house down. He buries Jenny under their tree where they shared sweet childhood memories of being closer than “Pees and Carrots.” He visits her grave with conversation about the life he and “Little Forest” are living and his pride in, and devotion to his son seems as deep as his love for Jenny. His love for her reaches beyond the veil of death as he leaves her grave with the statement, “If you ever need anything, you just let me know.”

Now by this time, I am bawling like a wet, hungry infant. Yes, Forest knew what love was. I could love a man like that. A Real Man