Asleep at last

One night, long ago, I walked the floor with a very sick child.

Wiping his forehead and body with a damp cloth and humming to him softly seemed to help him. It took hours, but finally he slept.

In the process, we accumulated an entire load of soiled bedding, which truly needed washing, immediately. So as we had paced, I also gathered up the wash and started the washer with my free arm, then retrieved the damp cloth to continue our walking.

Once morning arrived, I prepared a scant breakfast for my other children and began the walking again, with the poor little sick one. Soon another sickie began showing signs of fever and upset stomach. Round two was on its way.

Before all was over, I had washed six loads of laundry and slept about six hours. In two days. But all the children were alive.

A man could not have done this.

However, a friend of ours was driving his wife home from a St. Louis airport, one morning, trying to deposit her, on time, in front of her first class for the day at MU, when they encountered a recently occurring car wreck. The wheels of the inverted vehicle were still turning as they neared it. Since our friend had training in emergency medicine during the Vietnam War, he stopped to see if anyone needed first aid. He found a distraught dad, weeping uncontrollably, and saw two tiny tennis shoes protruding from under the upturned car.

The dad kept saying, “I’ve killed him! I’ve killed him!”

Our friend knew they needed to lift the car off the boy, and knew they probably could do it, if only the dad would settle down and help. Finally he believed our friend and overcame his fear enough to give the massive effort it would take.

The two of them literally lifted and overturned the VW sedan, finding the child alive enough to survive.

A woman could not have done that.

The fact is that the actual muscle tissue in a woman’s body is different from that of a man’s.

Strong Man

Woman’s muscle is designed for light but constant, prolonged, unending duty, as in holding a baby, or stirring a pot. Men cannot bear that type of constant, repeated effort, especially when their sleep levels are depleted.

Man’s muscle is designed for what men excel at, instead: the massive effort that is over with quickly, such as lifting a log or a car, or swinging an ax — things women hope not to have to do.

It is really no wonder, considering our all-wise Designer, is it?