If all escapes Pandora’s box, let hope remain.
To continue living is an achievement in itself. I am proud of you.
If the world continuously breaks the life you’ve been trying to build, keep making things anyway.
When all that you can imagine has already left marks on Pandora’s box as they fled — grief, gloom, and greed. Hope will always remain the last thing held hidden because when everything falls apart, it is hope that saves us. Without it, time and courage will not exist. Without hope, the incessant breaking of things will persist. Without hope, you will not be here.
The truth is, even though life repeatedly makes us walk on paths that cause us to stumble, despite the whispers screaming the will there is to stop, and even when things get deeply terrible that we cease to heal, we still hope. It is hope that holds us together. It is hope that permits us to believe in the possibility of living.
It is hope that creates the art of “living despite of.”
If you feel like all your efforts have been wasted, all your tears have dried unwiped, and all your misfortune has fallen on hands that do not know gentleness, then I am here to tell you this:
If I cannot give you every bit of hope there is in Pandora’s box, I will offer you my own sowed hope instead because I want you to try one more time. Live one more day. Choose once again.
All the things you did to keep yourself going are valid. You are trying. All the feelings you let consume you are valid. All the anger you’ve let out, all the sadness that shattered you, all the feelings of “Why is it me again?” — all of them are valid. All of them are understood. And it is with uttermost sincerity when I tell you that I am proud of you.
Because despite all the hurdles that have tried to scrape your knees, you kept running with wounded skin. Despite all the barriers that stood tall to hinder you, you climbed up and jumped even though you were frightened of heights. And you have done all of this with hope despite the adversities. And you are still here because of the hope you carry.
Keep hoping.
For it is hope that enables us to believe in the goodness of time. If time cannot wait for us, hope shall. This, too, shall pass. And it will pass with grace.
Hope is not only in the sun that sets but in the sun that rises. Hope is not only in the moon that listens but also in the stars that accompany you. Hope is when you believe despite being disappointed. Hope is when you continue despite being stopped. Hope is yours.
Hope isn’t locked in Pandora’s box. Hope is free and it is inside you.
