At the beginning of time, a titan named Prometheus gave men the gift of fire. The god Zeus was furious at the titan for not asking his permission first and at the humans for accepting the gift, so he devised a plan to punish everyone.

He ordered Hephaestus to create a beautiful woman whom he named Pandora. Aphrodite gave him the gift of beauty, Hermes gave him cunning, Athena taught him various arts and Hera gave him the gift that would change the history of men forever: curiosity. Zeus then ordered Hermes to bring the beautiful woman to Earth.

Before making their way to Earth, Zeus presented Pandora with a gold box encrusted with precious stones tied with golden strings and warned her that under no circumstances was she to open it.

Hermes guided Pandora from Mount Olympus and presented her to Prometheus’ brother, Epimetheus. The two got married and lived happily ever after, but Pandora couldn’t forget the forbidden box. All day I thought about what could be inside. She longed to open the box, but she always retied the golden laces and returned the box to its shelf.

However, Pandora’s curiosity got the better of her; He took the box and tugged on the laces, untying the knots. To his surprise, when he lifted the heavy lid, a swarm of adversities burst forth from the box: illness, envy, vanity, deceit, and other evils flew out of the box in the form of moths. But among all of them, a beautiful dragonfly flew tracing trails of color before Pandora’s surprised eyes.

Even though Pandora had released pain and suffering into the world, she had also allowed hope to follow them.

And it is hope that allows humanity to move forward despite adversity.