“Have the time of your lives living the life of your times…”

            Langston Hughes uses this line in his short story “Adventure” in an advertisement by Southern blacks for Northern whites to come experience the socially unequal South and the fighting that occurs.  This line is both incongruous and sarcastic. The context of this line is a knowledgeable (at least from firsthand experience) black man addressing the ignorant white man of the North who is blind to the depths of the social inequality that runs rampant in the south.  The incongruity is evident because rarely during this period of history are blacks portrayed as knowledgeable and whites portrayed as ignorant. The sarcasm is present in the way he describes a trip to the South as being “the time of your [life].” Though I was not alive in 1962, I can fairly confidently say that not too much about the South was enjoyable during that time.

What would be the modern day social or political problem that fits this sarcastic quote? What is something that is not at all enjoyable for a specific group of individuals but very prevalent in 2012 American society? Would it be political rallies, especially now with Election Day only two days away? Would it be border control in southern Texas against the masses of illegal immigrants that attempt to enter our country? Or how about fighting in the Middle East and the war on terrorism? At the very moment, the situation around Sandy is a perfect example. Because of the times we live in and the amount of technology we have, humans are dependent on our smart phones, cars, and other technological devices just to get through the day; many of us go through a sense of withdrawal when our phone is in another room, not to mention how we feel when it is dead and not usable. But because of the destruction caused by Sandy, many people are without electricity and so have no way to charge phones, computers, iPads, and other devices; fights are breaking out over gasoline shortages for vehicles. The life of our times is a life centered on technology, so in the Northeast where technology cannot be used at the moment, people are having the time of their lives.    

Though the situation in the Northeast is very different from the social inequality present in the South when the story “Adventure” was written, every society will always have one aspect which, because of the life of the times, will cause people to have “the time of their lives.”