Originally written September 29, 2008

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"Only Hope was left within her unbreakable house,
she remained under the lip of the jar, and did not
fly away. Before [she could], Pandora replaced the
lid of the jar. This was the will of aegis-bearing
Zeus the Cloudgatherer."

-- Hesiod, "Works and Days"

It is said this is what keeps mankind alive - hope.

In the fable of Pandora, she opens the jar (box) and releases all the ills upon the world and upon human kind, but hope is the last thing left in the jar. Hope...

...yet hope, and the act of hoping, is a concept I consciously try to avoid in my life. I learned long ago, hope is not enough. Hope is never enough.

If I only have hope, I don't have control.

Control is what I need to take my life into my hands. Effort and perseverance will help me achieve my dreams, not hope.

I'll leave hope locked away in the jar... I have to get back to work.