At the bottom of the box

One of my favorite mythological stories is "Pandora's Box."

It was my favorite when I was in grade school, and I'd read it on our encyclopedia over and over again. Then, when I was in high school, I did my first school play as Prometheus. Needless to say, the play was "Pandora's Box."

In the story, Pandora inadvertently releases different misfortunes and ills to the world by opening a forbidden box. She closes it after she realizes what she did, and feels so much remorse after. But as she was about to keep the box, she hears a stirring from inside.

When she opens it again, she saw that at the bottom of the box was hope. She releases it so that even with all the ills and misfortunes, people can hope that things will be better.

Typhoon Yolanda is like Pandora's Box. After reading, watching and seeing its trail of death and destruction, you can see how the typhoon released different misfortunes and ills in Tacloban and the Visayas area.

But despite all that destruction, we remember that there is hope.

Hope that generosity will prevail. Hope that the world is coming to their aid. And hope that this, too, shall pass.

So I pray that the people of Tacloban, Samar and other typhoon-struck areas never lose hope.

Hope is, indeed, a powerful thing.