Hope

"Hope survives best at the hearth" -Rick Riordan (The Last Olympian)

When Pandora's pithos was opened, all the evils of humanity were released into the world. Hope remained enclosed in her clay prison. There are many versions of this tale, most of them ending with Pandora's feminine curiosity as the blame for evils living in our world. The one that stands out the most to me is by no means the one known in popular culture.

This story appears a century later than Hesiod's original telling. Written by Theognis of Megara, this is a reversal of the meaning of 'evil.' In this version, it is not evil that is released from the pithos, but blessings. In their absence, evil is allowed to take hold. Hope, the only remaining blessing, is reluctant to abandon humanity. She remains, giving promise of her lost siblings.

Imagine a world where the gods still exist, inextricably attached to the changing patterns of Western Civilization. Olympus? 600th floor of the Empire State Building. A war is waging between the old gods, the Titans and those residing on Olympus. This is our world, today. We have no perception of these gods walking among us, or the precarious position of our existence. Should the Olympians fail, Western Civilization will fall with them. A band of heroes in training are the last line of defense, half-blooded children of the gods and the mortals they fall in love with. (The gods wouldn't be gods without their affairs, now would they?)

This is the story Rick Riordan pulls together in his series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Hope is a strong theme throughout the series, and that without the bonds of friendship we would have nothing. Hope is able to sustain things much larger than itself. Its power is universal: persevere and salvation is attainable.

Hope survives best at the hearth. Hope survives among friends and family, support structures that form the basis of goals and achievements. A hearth is a communal space, where people gather to feel unified. The hearth can exist anywhere: physically or spiritually. It is my belief that the bond of friendship illuminates the path to these places. Only those fortunate enough to acquire a strong foundation of friends may find these places and I, indeed, am very lucky.

The hearth: warmth, community, sustenance.