To Live

I am tired of it. Tired of the way the patriarchal religions and governments of this world have painted me over the centuries. And, it seems that with each passing century certain legends have become more ingrained than others. I have been called by many names. One of my most recognizable names is Pandora. Yep, that would be me: the first woman, given as a gift by the gods to Man, and used by those same gods to release various plagues into the world. They wanted them released, but they didn’t want to lose Man’s worship if he blamed them. So, they needed a scapegoat—that scapegoat was me.

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Still, the time of the ancient Greeks is long past and you would think their myths would have faded in time. Oh no. After the fall of Greek civilization and the Roman Empire, who incidentally took much of their own religion from the people they conquered, came the Christians. Christianity, which also borrowed from the mythologies of others--primarily so they could find ways to claim the elder religious festivals for their own and thereby make integration of those who followed a different faith easier. They take their creation stories from the Hebrews, although they fail to acknowledge Lilith as the first woman--created from the Earth as Adam was, but who did not stay with Adam and found her own way in the world. Why they do not recognize Lilith, is beyond me. I can only assume it is because they decided Woman should be subservient to Man; just ask Paul, and didn’t want to admit the first woman created by God wasn’t.

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After Lilith left the garden, god created me—Eve. You know the story as it is presented in the Torah and the Bible. Adam was placed into a deep sleep and God took a rib from his side and created me. This is also seen by many as another sign Woman was meant to be subservient to Man. However, there are also those who say that by taking a rib from Adam’s side, God was saying we were to stand side by side as equals. Honestly, I doubt God thought about it since he had to know man would put his own interpretation on things. After all, he did give us free will didn’t he?

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Anyway, enough of the preaching—it is a bad habit I have when I get on my soapbox. Instead, let me tell you my story regarding how Man was thrown out of Paradise, and how it really isn’t my fault.

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