In the 1940s, war was hell. It was a simple concept, easy to understand, and everybody agreed with it (even if they believed that war was necessary). What has been hell since then?
In the 1950s, hell was a road trip with the anti-you driving. Not even the evil anti-you, just the polar opposite of who you are. The driver would stop to use the bathroom when you least needed it. The driver would stop to get food when you were least hungry. The driver would pull into a motel to get some shuteye when you were wide awake. And, of course, the driver would play the music you hate the most, since the driver gets to choose the station. Oh, and did I mention that the trip had no destination?
In the 1960s, hell came in the form of a pill you didn’t recognize handed to you by somebody you didn’t know at a rock concert you weren’t enjoying. You had a suspicion that the pill would change the way you looked at the world, but you couldn’t know if it would be for the better or the worse. You had a strong suspicion it would be for the worse. Unfortunately, since everybody else was taking their own pills, there was increasing pressure on you to gobble up yours. Sweet dreams!
In the 1970s, hell was a disco ball that blinded you with multicoloured lights. Everybody seemed to be dancing with abandon while your movements seemed to emulate a spastic ostrich. And, white was not your colour – it seemed to attract dirt the moment before you put your suit on – and you hated the music, but, honestly, did you have anything better to do with your Saturday nights?
In the 1980s, hell was the opening bell on the local stock exchange which signalled the start of the day’s frantic financial activities that you didn’t understand and couldn’t capitalize on. As you watched, people who weren’t nearly as smart as you were making money faster than you – with your big brain – could count. The majority of the most successful of them weren’t acting in ways that were, in the strictest sense of the word, legal, but it sure was exciting. How much would you be willing to pay for a front row seat to the fun? Rest assured that in the years to come you’ll be paying much, much more.
In the 1990s, hell was scorching heat in the summer, snow, sleet, hail and precipitation there isn’t even a name for in the winter, and strange, unexpected, massively destructive tornadoes, earthquakes and other “weather phenomena.” People who believe that this is just a phase the Earth is going through managed to drown out the much larger and more knowledgeable group of people (sometimes referred to as “scientists”) who warned that human beings were responsible for this, ensuring that no meaningful action would be taken to stop it. You could sleep safely knowing that, since you had no money to give them thanks to the 1980s, extreme weather would be your legacy to future generations…
In the 2000s, hell was the swoosh of the scythe as it approached your neck. The food you ate. The air you breathed. The toys your children played with (although why they should be a threat to an adult like you is a matter of some speculation…). Strangers. So-called friends. I mean, how well did you know your neighbours? No, but, seriously, how well? Just about the only thing you didn’t have to fear was the government that was protecting you from all those other threats. At least, not until the end of the decade…
In the 2010s, hell is knowing somebody is listening to and watching everything you do. You do not know who it is and you do not know for what purpose they are doing it. Because you cannot assume that you have privacy anywhere, you are extremely polite and well-behaved and do your best to never say or do anything that might offend anybody because heaven forbid you should get taken away by the authorities in the middle of the night because you wouldn’t stand up under heavy interrogation – or, if it came to that, light questioning – and, if you thought about it, you’d have to wonder why, if they already see and hear everything, authorities would need to ask you questions at all, but that’s exactly the sort of thought you could get in trouble for thinking so best not to…
Each decade gets the hell it deserves.