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« on: July 09, 2006, 10:48:13 am »
I'm sure you're all familiar with the tale of Pandora's box, but just to be on the safe side:
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Pandora's Box
Once, long ago, Mankind lived in perfect happiness. There was no hatred or war, no famine or pestilence, no ignorance or slavery. But sadly, this perfection was not to last. Zeus, angry at Prometheus for stealing fire from him, decided it was high time to piss in Mankind's collective Cheerios. Rather than just blasting everyone with lightning, Zeus came up with a better plan. Namely, trick Mankind into sticking it to themselves.
Zeus called all the gods together and had them place the most horrible things they had into a wonderfully ornate box made by Hephaestus. The gods then presented this box to a woman named Pandora, and forbade her ever to open it. Pandora, like all women, was possessed of a lively curiosity. She had to know what was in the box. One day she lifted the lid ¬?and out flew plagues innumerable, sorrow and mischief for mankind. In terror Pandora clapped the lid down, but too late. Everything the gods had put into the box had escaped. Everything, that is, but one thing: Hope.
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Many people are of the viewpoint that Hope was the only good thing in the box, a small boon snuck in by a sympathetic god. This theory, though, is easily shattered. Seeing as Hope was the last thing to come out of the box, it was obviously THE FIRST THING TO BE PUT IN. And why is that?
Because Hope was the MOST INSIDIOUSLY EVIL thing that the gods could muster up.
Seem a bit hard to swallow? Perhaps a few examples will change your perspective...
Meet Daryl. Daryl is a soldier fighting the "war" in Vietnam. One day, Daryl's troop gets placed in a no-win situation. Rather than fighting to the death, Daryl and the other soldiers surrender, with the Hope of fair treatment. After seven years of horrific daily torture, Daryl finally dies of infections and malnutrition. What kept Daryl alive and suffering for so long? The Hope of finally being released.
Meet Susan. Susan is Daryl's wife, or, perhaps I should say "was". Susan's husband never came home, for obvious reasons. Susan never gave up Hope, however, and as a consequence died a little inside everytime she awnsered the door and it wasn't him.
Not convinced of the inherent evil of Hope?
What if I told you that Hope is what allows slavery to exist? A preposterous idea, yes?
Not at all.
Hope causes the slave to do whatever necessary to survive, be it toiling in the fields, emptying mi'Lord and Lady's chamberpots, or filing form PX2279 in triplicate with data sheets neatly stapled in the top right-hand corner. Anything, so long as they can see the Hope of escape glimmering somewhere in the possible future.
Take away Hope, however, and the slaves no longer have anything left to live for. They then all lay down and die or go berzerk, killing all they can before they themselves are killed. This lack of Hope makes slave trading a futile effort, and thus, slavery is abandoned.
And what if I told you that Hope is the root cause of famine? Hear me out on this one.
The Hope of survival causes all the famine stricken people to snatch at whatever tiny morsel of edible material they can lay their hands on. These people slowly suffer and whither away until the inevitable happens.
Take away this hope, and many would kill themselves quickly and painlessly. With less mouths to feed, the food supplies stop being stretched so thin. Hey, whaddaya know! No more famine.
And now you see the true nature of Hope. Hope is peeling the Band-Aid off one excrutating hair at a time, rather than yanking it off and getting it over with.
So abandon all Hope, for then your Hopes can no longer be dashed.
Or Kill Me.
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