A Story of a Pandemic, Protests, Pandora, and...hope(?!)

The world as it is: Imagine that you live in a coastal town exposed to Hurricane Laura, or a city besieged by protests, or county with rising COVID cases. Even if experienced vicariously via the evening news, it is tempting to believe we are living in a maelstrom of mayhem and malevolence unparalleled in history. It's as if the story of "Pandora's Box" is playing out in 'real time': "...and the urge to open the box overcame her. Horrible things flew out of the box, including greed, envy, hatred, pain, disease...all of life's miseries had been let out into the world..." (after which Pandora belatedly slammed down the lid). 

The world as it was: Fifty years ago, in just over four minutes the Temptations sang the lyrics written for them by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong (still one of my favorites), summing up what we were then (and, of course, now) experiencing: "...people moving out, people moving in...color of their skin...you sure can't hide...only people talking about love is the preacher...sale of pills are at an all time high...cities ablaze...kids growing up too soon...taxes will solve everything...and the band played on...ball of confusion, oh yeah, that's what the world is today, hey hey...". So, is there really anything new about our current reality or have we actually been here before? Isn't this in part why history is part of our 'core curriculum' -- so that we might be enlightened, in order in turn to make better choices for our world? Which brings to mind another set of lyrics penned about fifteen years prior by Pete Seeger that most of us in the 'boomer' set associate with Peter, Paul, and Mary: "...where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?...oh, when will they (we) ever learn?..." So, when will we?!

The world we long for, one we aspire to: And the story of Pandora goes on: "The last thing remaining inside the box was hope. Ever since, humans have been able to hold onto this hope in order to survive the wickedness that Pandora had let out". Just where are tangible reasons to hope, here and now, you ask? Well, from "Twenty Reasons to Hope" brought to us by World Vision (2020!) I offer you a sample of three I think we can all relate to: 1. Extreme poverty is giving up ground. 2. Immunizations prevent 2-3 million deaths each year. 3. We are working toward a more open, inclusive, and fair world.

       While recent experiences have stirred within us universally held emotions (including fear and doubt), may we also be provoked to actions that make generations to come have new reasons to hope. For now is not a time to feel sorry for ourselves, for there is still much to do!

 

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