WOMEN ARE STRONG

I chafe when a man calls his wife or girlfriend "the little woman" because the term diminishes her. I object when a man calls his wife "the old ball and chain" because he's belittling her and making her look overbearing and warden-like.
I also am bothered by terms like "the fairer sex" and the "the weaker sex" because I think they underestimate and overgeneralize. Yes, there are women who are fairer than men and women who are weaker then men or even other women. Does that mean the entire gender should be painted with that brush? I think not.
Science has shown that when it comes to pure physical strength, women cannot equal or exceed man. That said, there are men who are weak and women who are strong, just as there are men who are strong and women who are weak. And there are a whole lot of the rest of us somewhere in between. There are women I would not want to arm wrestle. And there are men whom I could easily beat, and I am certainly no body builder.
Most women I know, however, are far stronger mentally and emotionally than men. Yes, I said emotionally. You may be thinking of times when the woman you know has gone deep into the well of her emotions and thought surely men are stronger since, after all, we are trained not to show our emotions much, if at all. But if we men had the same levels of hormones coursing through our blood and occasionally spiking, we'd all be emotional basket cases, believe me. And while we men pride ourselves in being able to lift and carry more weight than the women we know and love, which one of us could endure the labor and pain of childbirth? None. Absolutely none. And yet women often endure it not once, but several times. Now which is the stronger sex?
I do think women, as a rule, strive to be fairer and to seek fairness in most things. While that term "the fairer sex" was not referring to that, I do think the label in that form might apply in general. Men tend to consider that life is never fair so why bother. Women, realizing life's innate unfairness, try to at least provide some balance to the otherwise unfair lives of those they love. It is not unlike trying to stem a raging flood with a teacup, but you have to give them credit for trying.
Women also have the innate ability to be more empathetic than the males of this world. I don't mean to imply that all women are more empathic than men, just that I think they are given the gift for greater empathy than men. Some exercise that gift and others do not. A woman I know, when faced with her own personal, emotional and relational burdens, still thinks first of how she can be more for those around her, whether they are family, friends or nearly complete strangers. She sees herself, and God, in those around her. And she sees with empathetic eyes that few others I know will ever have.
We men may have been blessed by our Creator with the brute muscular strength to move mountains, or at least small molehills, but women have been graced with a strength, a depth of emotion, an empathy and a spirit that we can only envy. Women are a living marvel. And we are so lucky they are all around us.