You had one job, Pandora!

In the story of Pandora's box, a beautiful woman is crafted out of clay, named Pandora, and given to Epimetheus by Zeus--not out of the goodness of his heart or anything like that, though. Along with Pandora, Epimetheus was given a large urn or jar, which we'd later take it upon ourselves to simplify to a box, and told never to open it. (This makes no sense to me. What a disappointing wedding present. "Here, have a container that has something in it! But never ever open it.") But then one day, Pandora's curiosity gets the best of her, and she opens it while her husband is sleeping. When she lifts the cover, Envy, Crime, Hate, and Disease fly out to infect the world, and she realizes what she's done. Sobbing, she runs to her husband, and when she brings him to the box to show him, out flies one last addition to the world: Hope. And thus, Pandora has released pain into the world, but with it, she has given hope.

It wasn't until I reread this story tonight that I recognized some similarities between it and the Bible. In Genesis, God gives Adam and Eve the Garden of Eden but tells them never to eat from a specific tree. In this, Zeus gives Epimetheus and Pandora a box that they are never to open. Eve and Pandora--the two women in the stories (something the feminist side of me notices)--are the ones to let their curiosity get the best of them and do the forbidden, which releases evil and sin unto the world.

There are many evils in this world that I'd love to squash, but there are very few that I truly can squash. The total inequality and injustice of the world infuriates me--the fact that so many people live with more than anyone could ever need while many others die without the basic necessities is sickening. It is consoling, however, to know that along with the evils of the world that came out of Pandora's box came hope.