Hope Could Never Escape

I'm sure most of you (especially those office-dwellers) are avid listeners of Pandora internet radio (something that helps me make it through many a workday).  Perhaps you're an aficionado of the Pandora jewelry line (yes, even anti-consumerism Melanie has a Pandora bracelet).  And I'm sure you've all heard of "Pandora's box."  

The other day, as I was listening to my latest station on Pandora (Ottmar Liebert's holiday station-- makes me feel like I'm walking through World Market at Christmastime... and yes, I know it's October), I began to think about Pandora-- I'd never actually researched her mythological roots.  Coincidentally, I've also been reading Bulfinch's Mythology-- a collection of classic Greek mythological tales compiled by Thomas Bulfinch.  Where better to learn about Miss Pandora than in a book of Greek mythology?

Bulfinch gives two versions of the story of Pandora's box-- but both are very similar.  Long story short (and you can read the entire version here if you so choose... or just read the entire book if you're into that), Pandora (the very first woman to exist in the world of Greek mythology) was sent by Jupiter to be the wife of Prometheus and/ or Epimetheus.  She was also given a jar, but with strict instructions that she was, under no circumstances, to open the jar.  Naturally, Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she decided to open the jar.  And what was inside?

There are two versions of the story:

• First, that the box contained "a multitude of plagues for hapless man,- such as gout, rheumatism, and colic for his body, and envy, spite, and revenge for his mind," in addition to hope.
• Second, that the box contained Pandora's "marriage presents, into which every god had put some blessing," in addition to hope.

Though the contents of the box vary, both stories end the same-- after the lid was removed, all contents of the box (except for hope) escaped.  I like both versions of the story-- and though the second makes more sense (why would hope be in a box with a bunch of evil things? --like it was in the first version), I can appreciate both stories. 

What I found most intriguing, though, no matter which story you prefer, was that only one thing remained in Pandora's box after all else had escaped-- hope.  Hope can never escape us.  Even if we feel surrounded by a world of horrible things (like those plagues in Pandora's box), we must always remember that those "plagues" will not last forever.  They'll disappear, as they did with Pandora, and in the end, we are left with hope.  Or maybe you feel like every good thing in your life is being taken away-- the blessings that had once enriched your life are now fleeing you, just like the blessings in Pandora's box.  But you can be assured that there is still hope.  When all else fails, hope remains. Hope could never escape.