Recognizing A Gift: Don DeForge, VMD-Silver Sands Veterinary Center

Recognizing a Gift

In Search of Lagniappe and Segullah

Don DeForge, VMD     09May2015

Where Have All the Flowers Gone: In Search of Lagniappe and Segullah!  

So what is Lagniappe and Segullah?

This blog has been written to honor those who practice Lagniappe and give Segullah as a natural part of their daily lives and to introduce these expressions of caring to those who do not know what they mean.

We have gone from a society of wanting to help others to a society of self-importance; ego; and manipulation and cheating to gain importance and wealth.

I was speaking to a handicapped worker at a box store this past week who was checking people into the store with their store ID.  She was leaning over a shopping cart because she was in pain from hip arthritis.  A customer being checked in said she wanted her cart.  

The employee said it was supporting her.  The customer said get another cart I am in a rush and I need that one now. BINGO!  This scenario of me, myself, and I gets repeated
1000's of times each day in many different arenas.

Lagniappe--This word concerns giving something extra to someone....it is a bonus.....an add-on....... and it is free!

The word lagniappe tells a fascinating American story. Spanish speakers in the New World took a word from the indigenous Quechua language to make la ñapa, meaning "the gift." Then in New Orleans, where Spanish and French mixed freely, la ñapagot Frenchified into lagniappe. In Louisiana it's still used to refer to a bonus from a friendly merchant when you buy something. You could also call any nice little extra a lagniappe.

Mark Twain writes about the word, Lagniappe,  in a chapter on New Orleans in Life on the Mississippi (1883). He called it "a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get:"

We picked up one excellent word — a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word — "lagniappe." They pronounce it lanny-yap. It is Spanish — so they said. We discovered it at the head of a column of odds and ends in the Picayune, the first day; heard twenty people use it the second; inquired what it meant the third; adopted it and got facility in swinging it the fourth. It has a restricted meaning, but I think the people spread it out a little when they choose. It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a "baker's dozen." It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure. The custom originated in the Spanish quarter of the city. When a child or a servant buys something in a shop — or even the mayor or the governor, for aught I know — he finishes the operation by saying — "Give me something for lagniappe."

The shopman always responds; gives the child a bit of licorice-root, gives the servant a cheap cigar or a spool of thread, gives the governor — I don't know what he gives the governor; support, likely.

When you are invited to drink, and this does occur now and then in New Orleans — and you say, "What, again? — no, I've had enough;" the other party says, "But just this one time more — this is for lagniappe." 

When the beau perceives that he is stacking his compliments a trifle too high, and sees by the young lady's countenance that the edifice would have been better with the top compliment left off, he puts his "I beg pardon — no harm intended," into the briefer form of "Oh, that's for lagniappe."

Segullah has many meanings. In Hebrew Segullah signifies a cherished personal possession that is set apart and diligently cared for!  Today, Segullah, is loosely defined as a special gift; a gift with little monetary value but with great meaning.  It is given freely and is symbolized by selflessness.

Think about Segullah in two manifestations:

• What we have received!
• What we have to give! 

There was a time when a one stem Coleus-like plant being given to a senior citizen who would revel in watching it grow occurred every day somewhere.  Today, the geriatric are forgotten and many are abandoned in nursing homes as sons and daughters jet around the world; escape to an island vacation home; or party and forget those who have raised them and brought them their prominent present life.

There was a time when a child would give a stone to a parent.....a special Segullah.....and it brought great joy to the parent from the segullah-giver.  Today, children are given I-Pads; I-Phones; electronic games; and lots of high calorie snacks which become baby-sitting devices.  Children grow up without parents but with electronic nanny's.  They do not know the meaning of Segullah....they have never been given love.... but only high priced electronic toys.

Pete Seeger in 1955 wrote a song-"Where Have all the Flowers Gone" that was later made popular by Peter-Paul-and Mary.  It became an anti-war protest song recorded by many artists of the 60's and 70's.  I think that Pete would be pleased to know that I re-write the meaning of his creation, in 2015, 60 years after it was penned in direct regard to the loss of Lagniappe and Segullah in society.

"Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?" 

The flowers of Lagniappe and Segullah have been picked and few have been re-planted.

The fields are barren and the luscious colors of red-blue-green-yellow-lavender and others have been replaced with parched soil.

Can we find the flowers that are gone?  Can we return to being a society of Lagniappe and Segullah- i.e. a society of giving and not just me-myself-and I?

The pessimist would say it can never happen.  I have been called an idealistic-realist by many............ and I do believe the flowers can return to the field as we select Lagniappe and Segullah over personal self-serving life styles.

It takes only one seed to product one plant...... and four seeds will produce four plants.....You can be the one to plant the first seed today.  Go to work today and bring coffee for the crew and as Lagniappe add to it a sweet treat.  Pick up a special stone...put an inscription on the stone and give it to your son or daughter to keep in a special box.... letting your child know how much you love them.  Buy some plants and drop them off at a skilled nursing facility for the seniors to have in their rooms...and as Lagniappe....... visit some of them with a therapy dog.  Call your parents and tell them you care about them very much.  As you begin your professional career, find a senior professional to listen to who has already taken your journey and seek their advice.  Motivate someone who is lost to seek their unique potential.  Call an estranged parent and tell them you want to meet for coffee and find out how it has gone so wrong over the years.

Lagniappe and Segullah are vehicles of caring and vehicles of love.  They can be miracles to change our lives and to affect the lives of others.  Seek them out and make sure others also find the magic of Lagniappe and Segullah.

E-Mail DonDeForge100@gmail.com

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Medical Director Silver Sands Veterinary Center

17 Seemans Lane

Milford, CT 06460