Already August and it's time to try a little tenderness. We had a great cake from the Chinese bakery at the end of dinner that was the epitome of tenderness. Also, lots of other wonderful yummy food and fellowship.
The second attempt was perhaps tender was still a negative word that was too sweet or too saccharine to really be used to mean what it should mean. Sort of like a Thomas Kincaid Painting or
a Keene "big eyes" painting. That being tender was a way of relating to evoke a certain softening of heart in response.
Or maybe he's both -- a tenderhearted tough guy.