Do The Right Thing

We all know that it wasn't until the 1960s that women were freed up to be decision makers.

But a while back when I was finishing up "Reading Lolita in Tehran" I was thinking about how, throughout history, women have risked losing everything in order to do the right thing.

Even in the Old Testament, where the Israelites pretty much invented the patriarchal society, women stepped up.

Take Abigail for instance. She was this beautiful young woman married to some mean old rich guy with a bad temper named Nabel.

David, the future greatest King of Israel, was riding through the area and wanted to camp on Nabel's property but this guy says no way. Abigail gets wind of this and realizes that her husband's a fool and his crazy decision can get them and all of their servants killed. So, unbeknownst to Nabel, she gathers up a bunch of good stuff, takes it out to David and begs him to BLAME HER not her husband- and to accept the gifts.

In other words, she was willing to risk her life in order to do the right thing - even though it flew in the face of acceptable female behavior.

Fortunately for Abigail it worked out for her. She told her husband what she'd done. He had a stroke, died, and she married David.

Sometimes doing the right thing works out - sometimes not. I know.