Just A Lil' Bit Of Hope...

Hope is a funny word...but only because I think it's a combination of HOME and ROPE. You see there can only be hope if you are tied firmly and securely (with a rope of course!) to the place that you call home (not literally but the thing that is deep down inside your heart). If you think carefully you will realise that I'm not completely crazy because in the truest sense, when you are floundering in the troubled waters of life, your only lifeline is that rope that pulls you home. Hence it is aptly called HOPE. No matter how crazy, insane, whacked, pathetic, horrendous, disappointing, disheartening, humiliating, depressing or catastrophic the situation may be, there is always hope. It is the sweetest music, the most comforting food and the gentlest lover there can ever be. Just a little bit of hope can lift your spirits no end on a gloomy day. It is the soothing balm that brings peace to the most anguished soul. To return to some cliched quotes, "There is always light at the end of the tunnel", "Even the darkest night is followed by the light of day" and "He that hopes shall always prosper" (ok, I made the last one up, couldn't think of any more hope quotes!); they all say the same thing! Keep Hope!

We have all heard the beautiful story of how hope came into being. The story of Pandora's Box. It is said that once upon a time there was a world where there was no pain or sorrow, no illness or disease, no hard work and everyone was forever joyful. In this world there lived Epimetheus and Pandora. Pandora had been given a large box by Zeus, God of Gods and had been instructed to keep it closed. But she had also been given the gift of curiosity and thus one day when Epimetheus was away, she opened the box and lo and behold she unleashed on mankind, all ills, toils and sickness. The world was at once engulfed in sorrow and pain and there remained no joy. In her dreary and miserable state, Pandora sat beside the box and suddenly heard a small voice inside asking her to open the box once again. She was scared, very scared because she wanted to do no more harm but she opened the box nevertheless. And the thing that came out of the box was none other than hope; hope that gently wiped away all the tears that had been shed and once again returned joy to the world. And the world was a better place to live in.

On that note, I shall bid adieu and here's hoping that we all keep hope alive, always...