the law of human nature

The responsibility of men to care for and protect women is an ancient and deep-seated understanding, beautifully illustrated in a story William Oddie tells in his What Will Happen to God? (on feminism and the reconstruction of Christian belief). Charles Lightoller was one of the sailors put in charge of the lifeboats full of women and children when the Titanic sank. He told of his experience:

Arriving alongside the emergency boat, someone spoke out of the darkness and said, "There are men in that boat." I jumped in, and regret to say that there actually were . . . They hopped out mighty quickly, and I encouraged them verbally, also by vigorously flourishing my revolver.

Oddie's comment: "To Charles Lightoller [the priority of women and children] over men in such a situation seemed, quite simply, 'the law of human nature.'"

Elisabeth Elliot, The Shaping of a Christian Family, "Sacrificial Authority," p. 129-130