"The first woman was named Pandora. She was made in heaven, every god contributing something to perfect her. Venus gave her beauty, Mercury persuasion, Apollo music, etc. Thus equipped, she was conveyed to earth, and presented to Epimetheus, who gladly accepted her, though cautioned by his brother Prometheus, to beware of Zeus and his gifts."
We know that Pandora is the legendary source of all the sorrow, pain, suffering, sadness, deceit, cruelty, and general mistreatment and evils of the world. She simply couldn't resist opening the jar/box. Curiosity and intelligence led her to it. As hard a she tried to quickly close the lid, it was simply too late. Once escaped, there was nothing she, or anyone could do. She was given the beautiful gifts of the gods, yet released all the evils of the universe on the world.
I think of my children when I think of Pandora. They were made of all the good things of heaven. Intelligence, handsomeness, wit, curiosity, wonder, kindness, love, etc. One represents the world before the jar was opened, and the other is post jar opening. Although Asa has been exposed to plenty of sorrow, pain, suffering, and sadness, he maintains a certain level of innocence and naivety. I'm very protective of that for him. There's no rush. Ethan is the post jar-opening child. He stood next to Pandora as she opened that jar. In fact, he probably would have encouraged her to do so. His intelligence and curiosity served him well until he was about 11 years old. Then, the jar was fully opened. He was hit squarely in the face with all those sorrows flying out. They have taken their toll with him. He has seen and known sorrow, pain, suffering, sadness, deceit, cruelty, and many, many other evils. He is damaged. He is marked. As a result, those of us who love him, have felt many of the same, but to a lesser degree. I have not seen or experienced many of the things he has, and I don't know that I would have survived them if I had. His full story is yet to be told, but it has brought more sadness than I ever imagined possible.
The good news, however, is that after Pandora opened the jar and all the evils flew out, one thing remained in the bottom of it . . . HOPE. That is the one thing that was left for the world. We were to use it to combat all the bad that had escaped, just that one thing . . . . HOPE. I've written about hope and faith before, but these are still what I turn to on a constant basis. They are ultimately all that is left at the bottom of my jar, and they are the gifts of God. The evils of the world exist, there is no doubt about that to me, but we have the last small gift to oppose them with. It's all we have, but it's mighty.
So, I look at my children, and no matter how damaged they may have become by the events of their lives, they will always have that final gift. At the moment, it's often elusive for me, and horribly elusive for Ethan right now. The jar seems to have become so deep that the bottom isn't visible, but I know that HOPE is down there somewhere, and I'll fight to keep my grasp on it. I just hope Ethan doesn't stop looking for it, and that he will once again reach for it, and grab tightly.
No comments:
Post a Comment