In 1765 the great jurist Blackstone had summed up the status of married women:

'By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage. ... For this reason, a man cannot grant anything to his wife, or enter into a covenant with her: for the grant would be to suppose her separate essence ... and the courts of law will still permit a husband to restrain a wife or her liberty. ...'

[elipses in Gellis' book]

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

Failure is not an option; it's bundled with your software

Empathy

"A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish" [Isaiah 42:3]. The Lord's Servant would be sympathetic and understanding with the weak and erring. Failing men and women are often crushed under the callous tread of their fellowmen; but not so with the ideal Serfvant. He was to specialize in mending bruised reeds and fanning the smoking wick into flame.

Many, even Christian workers, ignore those who have failed and "pass by on the other side." They want a ministry more rewarding and more worthy of their powers--something more spectacular than bearing with the relapses and backslidings of frail humanity; but it is a noble work to reclaim those whom the world despises. How dimly Peter's wick burned in the judgment hall, but what a brilliant flame blazed on the day of Pentecost! His interview with God's ideal Servant put everything right.

It is noteworthy that only once did Jesus say that He was leaving His disciples an example, and that was when He washed their feet (John 13:15)--an example of servanthood. And only once did any other writer say that He had left an example--and that was an example of suffering (1 Peter 2:21). Thus the thoughts of suffering and servanthood are linked, even as they were in the life of the Lord. And is the servant greater than the Lord? [emphasis in the original]