The legend of Pandora’s box, or more accurately, Pandora’s Jar, carries with it a plethora of interpretations.

In the original myth, or as best we can decipher, the gods were up to their usual antics. In punishment for Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, Zeus gave Pandora to Prometheus’s brother, Epimetheus. 

Pandora, though forbidden to do so, opened a jar (mistranslated in later versions as a box) left in her husband’s care. Inside the jar were evils now released on the world, among them sickness and death. 

In most tellings of the story, the last thing released was hope, although Pandora tried to replace the cover before this last release. 

Let’s hope those who put their faith in Mr. Trump are not victims of deceptive expectations or, in seeking a return to an idealized American past that never existed, the architects of our downfall. 

Joe Broadmeadow

And here’s where translations of historical documents can become complicated, and dangerous to rely on for guidance. While the standard interpretation is hope, a more refined interpretation of the original version is deceptive expectations.

While Pandora’s Box has come to symbolize the risks and rewards of curiosity and desire for knowledge, perhaps we should consider the wisdom in the original interpretation of deceptive expectations. I think this is much more aligned with the actions of the many gods dreamt up by humans.

We are facing a storm of deceptive expectations presented by our government and its destructive and disingenuous policies. Recent reports of federal employees facing dismissal for speaking out against these policies that compromise agencies’ effectiveness should send shivers down one’s spine.

I would equate this country’s re-electing Mr. Trump, despite the disasters of his first administration and his long history of failures, as the equivalent of opening our own Pandora’s Box.

And if what remains to emerge from this nightmare is deceptive expectations without hope we are in serious trouble.  

As one ages, one gets to see both the beginning and the end of many stories. Let’s hope those who put their faith in Mr. Trump are not victims of deceptive expectations or, in seeking a return to an idealized American past that never existed, the architects of our downfall.