Opening Pandora’s Box — Hope for the New Year
With the calendar year ticking away and quickly winding down, bringing us closer to another new year, I have been thinking about the concept of hope. President Obama did a wonderful job of using hope as his primary platform for election, and throughout history, this term has brought about strong emotions — both positive and negative. And now, in our world of constant threat and the emergence of more lethal enemies, such as ISIS, the question of whether hope is a gift or a curse has great significance.
The phrase “Pandora’s Box” is commonly used to describe some form of disaster or absolute chaos, a situation with no discernable answer. But in Greek Mythology, the story of Pandora is much more complicated. In our conversation about hope, Pandora is the central figure. Her father Zeus gave Pandora a box as a gift but told her never to open it. But being the curious sort, Pandora opened the box and was amazed to see ghostly forms emerge, representing all the evils known to man, flying into the air and spreading throughout the earth. Because of this one act, the life of man was changed dramatically. No longer could man loll about all day. They would have to work, they would succumb to illness, and they would face catastrophic disasters and the threat of war. As soon as Pandora realized the evils she unleashed upon man, she quickly closed the box. The whole contents had escaped, except for one thing. At the very bottom of the box was the spirit of Hope.
The question that many philosophers try to answer isn’t the question of why Zeus would give his curious daughter a box of evil — which, in my opinion, is worth exploring. Instead, they have asked why hope was in a box full of evil in the first place. Some believe that to hope is an evil, because it leads to disillusionment. Some believe that Zeus put hope into the box to keep humans going, so that they would suffer longer and more terribly. With hope, people go on so many believe that hope is the worst of all evils.
“Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Others believe that hope being trapped at the bottom of the box expresses the belief that as long as you hold onto hope, all will never be lost. These folks believe that hope is good and it has allowed people to this day to overcome evil. If you look at current research, it shows that optimism (or hope) can actually mitigate torment. People who are optimistic tend to live happier and healthier lives. On the other hand, the effects of hope and optimism can depend on the specific contents of the hopeful belief. If you hope for things that cannot possibly happen, then you are dooming yourself to unanswered dreams and disillusionment.
When trying to determine my own beliefs about whether hope is good or evil, I turn to all that I have learned in the field of emergency management about victims and survivors, and hope and despair. Two books serve as obvious examples. The first is the book, “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand, which is the true story of Louis Zamperini. The part of the story that hit me the most was when he, and two of his crew, had crashed their plane into the sea during WWII and had to survive on a lifeboat for over 47 days. Two of the crew, including Zamperini continued to believe that they would be rescued and did whatever possible to survive. The third crew member was in despair from the beginning of their ordeal and continually talked about how they would never survive and all hope was lost. Out of the three crew members, this man was the only one to die. Zamperini and his other crew member that held onto hope survived. This same moral has been seen again and again in true stories of survival and resilience.
The other book is the most famous of all southern novels about the Civil War, “Gone with the Wind”, written by Margaret Mitchell. While this book isn’t a true story, it does exemplify families throughout the south who lost everything but managed to go on. My old roommate, Julian, read this book and was just horrified at how awful Scarlett O’Hara was to everyone around her. She was selfish, materialistic and egotistical. But what he didn’t see was that it was Scarlett who got everyone through the war and into recovery. If it wasn’t for her strength, determination and yes, hope, the entire family would have perished. Margaret Mitchell was interviewed once and asked what made her write “Gone with the Wind.” She said she wanted to tell the story of the differences between those who are survivors and those who are victims. Some just lie down and die when faced with terrible events. But others, like Scarlett, continued to pick themselves up, brush themselves off and move forward. Scarlett was a survivor, just like Louis Zamperini, and both had the one thing considered to be an evil in the world – Hope.
So, which one are you? Are you one of those who believe that hope is among the world’s worst evils, or do you remain optimistic about the future and believe hope will get you through? If faced with disaster and destruction, would you be a victim or a survivor?
Each New Year has always begun with a hell of a lot of hope. We let go of the past and look forward to a good New Year. For me, I tend to be a glass is half full kind of girl, so I have to believe that when Pandora’s Box emptied, and only hope was left behind, it signaled that as long as we hold onto hope, we will make it through whatever may come our way and will be able to face all the evils of the world triumphantly.
