The Inner Ring

Inner rings are small exclusive groups of people that not just anyone can enter. These form for the most part without even our knowledge. This happens whenever people are brought together whether it is our families, the floor we live on in our dorm, people we know at work, or even street gangs, all of us are in an infinite number of rings and while I say infinite this does not stop this number from increasing through or lives. While many of these rings are good such as our families there are many out there that cause good people (a term I use lightly) to do bad things. This is especially prevalent in the last of the four groups I listed earlier however there are many groups that require an initiation which is not always harmless. Evil however is not limited to these groups whose intent is evil. Even in our families there can be evil as when something bad happens sides are drawn in accordance with our loyalties to the rings within the generic ring of our family.

One other thing I would like to cover is the idea of exclusivity. As Lewis points out “Exclusion is no accident; it is the essence.” In another quote he states that “But your genuine Inner Ring exists for exclusion. There’d be no fun if there were no outsiders. The invisible line would have no meaning unless most people were on the wrong side of it.” He also points out at one point how because entrance was not easy for us into many of these inner rings we make sure that entrance is not easy for anyone else who comes after us. Hence initiations; however there is a time when exclusivity or being closed to new members entirely is a good thing. This is in relation to our families. We should be discerning in who we let in though in many cases it is not up to us who gets let in there however as the Ribeiros pointed out there is one ring that should not increase in members after it is formed and that is marriage I feel that this is fairly self explanatory so I will leave it at that. In any event we should be careful about just what rings we become a part of and what happens as a result of being in those rings.