On a high
By: Navin (October 8th, 2008)
Mumbai police swooped down on a bunch of party goers and detained 231 people for possession or consumption of Drugs under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act on Sunday night. This included some drug peddlers who were in possession of narcotic substances like LSD drops, ecstasy tablets and cannabis. They all were part of what many call as ‘rave parties’.
Most of them who were arrested were young boys and girls between the age of 18-25 and some sources say that some were minors. This is something that we don’t find very common in India and definitely not widely reported in the media. But many parts of the world such parties are routine and often closely surveyed by police, paramedics and sometimes even counselors.
Such parties are normally defined by DJ’s and performers playing electronic dance music, with accompaniment of laser light shows, projected images and artificial fog. All in all, the perfect setting to let the inner man meet his deepest desires of shedding all inhibition and letting your mind, body and soul to just loose control to a higher experience. When mixed with the presence of drugs and alcohol, it gives out something that makes people to come back for more. Every subsequent day without this looks a bore and life without it is not worth living for.
The most common problems with such parties are that there many instances of drug overdoses resulting in adverse health effects and sometimes death due to deadly cocktails of drugs and liquor. When this is going on, most people loose their senses and use of good judgment and applying constraint is at a premium. By the end of such parties you will find bodies strewn around the venue, not dead but definitely knocked out of their senses. Road accidents and crimes resulting due to this are many. All this and more for just being on a high!
Is it really a high, you would like to ask me? May be in the absence of a better way of living, this is definitely a high. In the absence of parents whose lives are anything but a role model, teachers and educational establishments staying clear of being moral standards and risking being branded as a moral police, nation whose leaders are seeped in corruption and complete lack of accountability for their peoples lives, it is not a surprise that the young cannot have an inspired way of living their lives.
The young hardly have an icon to model their lives on and those who proclaim themselves as youth icons are themselves falling to such vices and finding it difficult to set a better example. Exchanging their lives, its sanctity and innocence for a few moments of pleasure.
In the Bible Jesus gives a story of the lost son. He said …
“There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
It is quite interesting to see that this young man who went and squandered everything in ‘wild living’ came to his senses when there was a famine. Most who live such lives come to their senses when they have lost everything to such addictions. When there is nothing more that you can offer, when you have spent your youth, your beauty, your money and energy on such things, then the world leaves you unwanted. There is nobody to nurse you in those days leaving you lonely and dejected. No wonder they call it ‘The King of Good times’.
Secondly, as the young man told his father that he had wronged heaven and then him. When we waste our lives like this we are often abusing the authority which God has given us over our lives, families, money, health and resources. Such a mistake is most often difficult to correct because the one whom you have wronged is somebody who is above all.
But the Bible says that there is a way back. Just as the father accepted the son back and restored all things back to him, similarly if we go back to the people whom we have wronged, especially God who has gifted you this life, then he will give you another chance to mend your ways, forgive you and if you are sincere HE will restore all things which you have lost. HE is king both in good and bad times of your life.
Today if you decide to turn back, then probably we will see celebrations of another kind in lives of people who love you and heaven too will celebrate (no rave parties’ of course)!
Tags: ecstasy tablets, LSD, prodigal son, rave party