A Raver's Responsibility

            The biggest event of a raver’s life and career approaches. Ultra Music Festival graces Miami’s presence once a year as it brings 150,000 attendees throughout a three day non-stop explosion of electronic dance music.

            This festival is the culmination of what any raver dreams of attending while they participate in other activities. Their thoughts are always filled with the idea that maybe next year they will have enough money for an Ultra ticket and flight to such a strange land. I thought for a while that I would be able to fulfill that wish.

            I have thought this since I bought my Ultra ticket in November 2011. I just now find out, March 21^st 2012, two days before Ultra is scheduled to begin, that I will not be in attendance this year.

            Many factors contribute to this unfortunate outcome. For one: money. Money and financial stability is something that ravers strive to eventually achieve. Organized chaos and collective dissatisfaction at an unstable life are common themes throughout the raving community. Most do not realize that this constant state of influx is a desire to keep change flowing, to avoid the constant and reliable from taking place.

            Sameness and normalcy seem to be the lifestyle that ravers take great effort in avoiding. It isn’t because they seek drama or because they always need something to be happening in their lives. They simply believe that life is more exciting and diverse that way. Anyone can find a comfortable lifestyle and settle down but it is the hard and emotionally-draining experiences that build an individual’s character and make them learn more about what life really has to offer.

            Ignorance is bliss and this applies to the general everyday life of most people: they are ignorant to negative consequences and outcomes that can arise from certain decisions.

            Ravers are not afraid to take these risks and occasionally make poor decisions, deep down knowing that the result will be negative. But no one ever learned anything from an easy life. The individuals that are believed to be the wisest are generally the ones that have experienced life in the most diverse and unconventional way.

            Ravers seek to establish that belief as a life-long principal, always seeking out the experiences that won’t necessarily benefit them in the best way but will help them learn more about what they are truly curious about.           

            I could say that raving has been a part of my life for two years. It only became a majority of my life about six months ago when I discovered the people in this community that I truly belonged with.

            Raving has been a part of every weekend unless I had to make an unusual and generally infrequent exception. One of these rare exceptions will occur this weekend when I do not attend Ultra 2012 because I am choosing to put the rest of my life ahead of raving, a decision few and far choose.

            Attending Ultra would leave me in debt, potentially (most likely) decrease my participation and overall interest in school upon my return, increase the stress already prominent in my relationship with my parents AND cause severe exhaustion and health concerns post-weekend. And the best reason I could give for all of this is because I want to have a good time? Doesn’t seem to weigh evenly.

            The general populance thinks of ravers as lazy, modern-day hippies that don’t do anything productive with their time. I want to point out that this is a lie and social misconception. I am making the choice to put my responsibilities ahead of what I truly feel I would most enjoy doing, a choice I rarely, if ever, have to make.

            Raving isn’t about drugs, partying and getting it on. It’s about the bonds built with strangers that later turn into lifelong friendships. It’s about the trust and confidence built in past friends by experiencing an entirely different atmosphere with them.

            My discontent from missing Ultra isn’t because I will miss out on three days of rolling face and getting wasted on ecstasy. It’s because I will not meet the countless new friends I could potentially have integrated into my life and more broadly simply missing out on experiences and interactions that would help me learn more about both the world and my perception of it.

            I choose to take responsibility in my current life because in the end, raving isn’t my life: it is the phase that I am currently experiencing. Keeping in mind the general concept of how my life will eventually turn out helps me realize what is truly important and necessary for me to do.

            Festivals will happen again, Ultra will go on next year, new friends will be made. For now, figuring out what is best for my overall life status takes preference and this is something generally believed impossible for ravers.

            This genre of person is the most judged and presumed but they surprise more than any other. They know when to truly stop compromising their real life for the side life they wish to extend to all facets of their moments.