The Bigger Picture

Peace, Love, Unity, Respect & Responsibility is quite straight forward, really. The fact that a dance & party culture has these unspoken rules in order to keep every body safe and for every one to have a good time is quite remarkable; considering that these principles are generally perceived as "random acts of kindness" amongst the majority of society, if they were to happen in every day life.

For example; you are walking through a busy, congested city during peak hour when everyone has just finished work. A blur of rushing business suits, ties, brief cases, and heels crowd the vicinity; pushing and shoving, just attempting to find their way home amongst the muck and the madness.
Through this crowd; you see a group of skaters, grinding up poles, down steps, flips, just off in their own little world, disregarding all of their surroundings.
One slips and falls. A sound pierces the air as he hits the ground; yet it is drowned out by the hustle and bustle of the city. The other skaters continue as they were, simply assuming his wellbeing, as they always do. Does any passerby choose to even look to check if he was ok? No. Does anyone go and offer him a hand? No. If a passerby did choose to do such a thing; those who saw it would either think that it was A) a random act of kindness B) an overly nice person or C) this person is only out for self - gratification and approval from others.

It is interesting, as in all social, cultural and even psychological aspects; there are certain rules of which people abide by in certain environments and circumstances, where in other environments these rules may not be necessary or even acceptable. The responsibility to care for others and yourself; to unite as one, and to respect yourself and others is just what comes with this culture whether individuals themselves choose to partake in it.

In my experience of raves, from about 9 am til 1 am people are still warming up, and since all of the good dj's and the headliners come on at about 3am, everyone's pretty razzed up by this time; and then from about 4ish onwards til about 6am everyone is pretty rowdy / over tired. (Not to say that this is how it always is - just in my experience). I remember when I was at Godspeed in March, and it was about 5am or so, everyone was extremely rowdy and there had already been one fight out the front of the venue so the vibe was abit tense (well at least it was for me and the people that I was with!). I remember there was a fight on the dance floor, I remember just looking over and seeing two massive shirtless guys in a brawl (although I couldn't see much as I'm not that tall and the crowd was quite congested at this point) and the next thing I knew, one of the guys was staggering away from it and came right in front of me, with blood all down his jaw, his nose looked out of place, and he had a white elwood - or some similar brand - shirt on which had been splattered with blood. I don't know what came over me - all of a sudden I just walked straight up to him and I touched his shoulder and asked "are you alright?" a part of me at the same time was thinking "this probably isn't a good idea..." but I remember my mindset was so determined on making sure he was relatively ok. He looked at me as if I were crazy for a moment, and then he just came to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders and hugged me. The three friends I was with immediately grabbed my arms/waist all at once because they thought something was wrong but then let go straight away when they realised everything was ok. We just stood there hugging, amidst lasers, smoke, and the most beautiful music. He pulled away and yelled in my ear (so I could hear him on top of the music) "thankyou, I'm fine" and smiled at me, tapped me on the shoulder in gratitude and then just walked away, wiping the blood off his face and continued to dance.

To some this may not seem like a very big thing; but to me, this moment almost made my night, because I don't know what came over me, approaching a random person who was just in a fight. In hindsight, it was probably a very bad idea. Yet, I shared something with these people. For the three friends I was with were only people that I had met that very night, for only a few hours of talking and dancing, and they were prepared to protect me no matter the consequences. The person I approached was grateful for my care and I was genuinely happy that he was ok.

If there was a random brawl on the street, and a teenage girl approached a mid 20s male just to ask if he was ok, what would the reaction be? It's hard to say - all I know is that I feel that that was a very beautiful example of how people within this culture care for one another no matter the circumstances, and how remarkable it is that just the vibe and atmosphere of such a place, all based on love for a genre of music, can provoke such friendliness in people, who in everyday passing in the street, you would ignore or maybe exchange an awkward glance.

This culture is about the music, but it is more than that. It is the beautiful things that surround this scene that make it so unbelievable.