Today, I am thankful for the audacious precept of Hope.
According to Greek mythology, the first woman to walk the Earth was a stunning beauty named Pandora. Despite all her enchanted charm, Pandora was actually a guise. She was created as a vindictive ploy to punish the mortal men who walked the Earth.
The myth of Pandora is too good a tale not to tell, so let me take a moment to share.
Early in their existence, human mortals had received a powerful gift stolen from the hands of Zeus, the Father of the Greek Gods, by Prometheus, a master trickster of the Titan race. Prometheus – whose name ironically enough translates to ‘foresight’ – had pestered the divine residents of Mount Olympus on several occasions. In this particular instance, Prometheus clandestinely stole fire from their lofty home on Mytikas Peak. His theft of their fiery property wrangled the immortal Gods to no end. So, Zeus, known for his sly and vengeful behavior, conceived of Pandora as a ‘gift’ to entice the mortals into accepting evil. Created by Hephaestus, the craftsman’ God on the Mount, Pandora was undoubtedly the most breathtaking and astonishing mortal ever conceived.
How could she not be?
Each of the 12 Gods on Mount Olympus afforded Pandora a trait of their own liking to take with her on her journey to Earth. Perhaps the most damning characteristic came from Zeus’ wife Hera, who gave Pandora the gift of Curiosity. So complete was their invention that Hermes, the messenger God, gave their female creation the name Pandora – which translates into ‘all gifted’ from the Greek words for ‘all’ (πᾶν) and ‘gift’ (δῶρον).
The Gods sent Pandora to see Prometheus’ brother, a somewhat dim-witted Titan named Epimetheus. Despite his brother Prometheus’s prescient warnings not to accept anything that might have come from the Gods, Epimetheus not only willingly accepts Pandora but also brazenly chooses to make her his wife. She arrived with a dowry to the marriage – a jar, or pithos, which contained several ‘gifts’ from the gods. Although Pandora was given explicit instructions never to open this vessel, her curiosity – courtesy of Hera – eventually got the best of her. She cracked open the container with the intent of simply taking a quick peek at its content. However, much to her dismay, the jar flung open. What flowed out of the jar were all the wretched spirits, evils, and hardships that turned the happy-go-lucky mortals into prisoners of misery.
Illness. Death. Famine. Jealousy. Strife. Turmoil. Hate. Envy. Crime. Worry.
Once these horrific spirits were cast upon the Earth, humans would never be the same. Men now were forced to work to survive, arduously toiling for long hours in the field. Humans were also now prone to injury, disease, and illness of every kind. In hindsight, the decision to open the jar was a miserable one. Pandora’s husband should have realized it would have been case, but, sadly, he lacked foresight. Ironically, his own name – Epimetheus – translates into the word ‘hindsight.’
They say hindsight is 20/20. Yet, when we look upon the year 2020 in hindsight, it’s hard not to believe the entire episode was nothing more than some horrible tragedy from Greek mythology. As the evil spirit of a small microbial pathogen, known officially as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (or SARS-CoV-2, for short), spread as a pandemic around the Earth, it inflicted a scourge of enormous proportion on humanity. By the time 2020 comes to a close in less than 24 hours, more than 80 million mortals will have been infected and close to 2 million will have fatally succumbed to its associated disease (COVID-19).
Yet, as one of the deadliest Decembers in the modern era draws to a close, there’s hope that 2021 will be better than 2020 was. Where have I heard this before?
Oh, that’s right, similar words come from a classic song. Almost exactly a quarter of a century ago, the band Counting Crows released a single entitled A Long December. In this song, the lead singer, Adam Duritz, recaps the tale about a close female friend who was critically injured in the middle of December of 1995 in a devastating car accident. One day, after visiting his friend in the hospital, Adam stopped by some friends’ house in Hillside Manor in the middle of the night to process the ensuing tragedy. After a few hours of consolation, he arrived home and immediately composed this song as a tribute to his colleague:
A long December and there's reason to believe Maybe this year will be better than the last I can't remember the last thing that you said as you were leavin' Now the days go by so fast.
[Chorus]
The smell of hospitals in winter And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls All at once you look across a crowded room To see the way that light attaches to a girl.
[Chorus]
Drove up to Hillside Manor sometime after two a.m. And talked a little while about the year I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower, Makes you talk a little lower about the things you could not show her.
Years later, Adam Duritz would give an interview about the meaning of the song, wherein he recounted the entire tale of his injured friend, his repeated trips to the hospital, and his life at that time. As he poignantly recalled, the melody he composed was about looking back on one’s life. Yet, rather than opting to recollect with melancholy and despair, the song is a reminder to make a choice to look forward – to exhibit foresight, if you will, instead of hindsight. Like many of the final songs on an album, A Long December is all about the possibilities of the future.
The realization that our lives are not so bad.
The expectations of better things to come.
The hope of a new future.
The Ancient Greeks believed that when Pandora opened that box, she cast despair on humanity. But, several of my astute connoisseurs of Greek mythology might recall that Pandora gave something positive to humankind that fateful day. There, in the bottom of the jar, resided the lonesome spirit of ‘Hope.’ Unlike the other evil spirits, Hope was not able, or perhaps not willing, to escape from the container before Pandora slammed it shut. Remaining alone in that empty vessel, Hope became a positive spirit for us mere mortals on Earth.
But, why would ‘Hope’ have been cast in the same lot as all those other wretched spirits in the first place?
Some critics view Hope as an evil spirit because it offers a ‘deceptive expectation’ of better things to come when in fact that wishful thinking often never materializes. In this regard, Hope does nothing more than prolong our inevitable torment, ultimately rendering us more downtrodden than when we started. Other pessimists argue that the entrapment of Hope within the jar, while all the evil spirits infect the Earth, was one final punishment inflicted on the mortals by the ruthless immortals residing on Mount Olympus. In essence, the jar’s last remnant was one final ‘Go Screw Yourself’ gesture, courtesy of the vengeful Greek Gods. However, some theorists believe Hope, by being preserved in the jar, is transformed over time. Separated from all other spirits, Hope undergoes a metamorphosis, ultimately becoming a positive force for all humans. By offering a buoyant sense of optimism that humans could access whenever needed (as the spirit is always in our possession), Hope became an intrepid force of confidence in the future.
Clearly, as 2020 wanes, I exude this spirit of Hope. In less than 9 months since becoming a global pandemic, we now have several therapies and vaccines to combat the wretched spirit that is SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, several other novel therapies and vaccines are on their way. In due time, as herd immunity grows with increasing vaccination rates, we will stem the menacing blight of COVID-19.
Death rates will fall. Confidence will rise. Normalcy will return. And, we will undoubtedly be better prepared the next time a nasty coronavirus rears its ugly head.
As a physician and drug developer, I believe incontrovertibly in the power of science. But, as a mere mortal, I also believe in a spirit much more compelling than microbiology, epidemiology, or medicine. That indescribable force is called Hope. Have faith in her, my friends, for Hope is far more powerful than any affliction, illness, or infection that the evil spirits can throw in our way.
Indeed, Adam Duritz’s A Long December also fittingly ends with a sense of Hope:
And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe Maybe this year will be better than the last I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself To hold on to these moments as they pass.
And it's one more day up in the canyon And it's one more night in Hollywood
It’s been so long since I’ve seen the ocean,
I guess I should.
Stay hopeful, my friends, that one day we can see the big blue ocean again – as well as the mountains, valleys, forests, cities, and whatever else our heart desires.
Most importantly, I hope you you and your loved ones have a Happy New Year filled with health, peace, and joy.
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