Hope...

I am but a weak, insignificant mortal who dares to write about a feeling as vast and engulfing as Hope. We are all but insignificant at the knees of this god of feelings. Hope is the optimist's everyday fix; it is the pessimist's deep dark secret; it is the sweetest memory of a victor and the last drop of wine in the goblet of the sufferer. It is that one final string at the end of the infinitely long & twisted rope we call life.

I wonder what the nature of hope is. I can categorize most feelings into two baskets of good or bad. But Hope is one that outwits me. Hope is one that has outwitted grey, wise philosophers whose minds graced time before time as we know it existed. Hope is one that balances mankind on it's sharp blade.

When Prometheus gave Fire to man, Zeus was enraged. With vengeance, Zeus created Pandora to ruin all of mankind; A woman who would bring deceit to the world. This woman was as beautiful as the goddesses. Her velvet like skin glowed softly. Her presence was like a heady scent too powerful to resist.With Pandora, Zeus sent a jar. A jar filled with Ruin, Illness, Misery and Grief. Pandora was never to open this jar but she could look at it all she wanted. Thus this beautiful woman lived seemingly content, but with Curiosity eating her away from the inside. It wasn't long before Curiosity got the best of her and Pandora opened the jar. Thus came about the beginning of the end.

But what is not appreciated enough is the last inhabitant of that jar. This little fellow never did manage to make it out of the jar. This little fellow outsmarted Curiosity herself. His name was Hope. This brings us to a fork in the road. What was Hope doing in the jar with Misery, Grief and Ruin in the first place? If he was in the jar of death, then is Hope evil? Is Hope the final mirage in the desert before the sands give way to the dark abyss? Is Hope the trickster that promises, but never delivers? Is Hope the masterstroke that will destroy mankind?

Or is Hope the one speck of gold in all the gravel? Is hope the grandeur amongst the grime? Is Hope the reassuring beam of light that bathes you in joy? What is Hope? What is its nature? Where does it come from? Will we ever know? And so the ambiguity lasts forever.

Hope is the edge of a coin. One face of the coin is Good. The other face but of course, is Evil. This coin was tossed before any man existed. This coin will continue to flip till the last man breathes. And the blade of this coin shall glisten forever and smile the most charming smile. For such is the nature of Hope...