The Inner Circle

The Inner Circle:
This reading brought me back to elementary school days. I remember in the fourth grade at the Winthrop public elementary school (The Willis) that I was in the "cool kids" group...and looking back on it...I laugh because fourth grade cool is much different than what I think is cool now. So I was in the fourth grade and I was in the inner circle of the girls in the class...and we all had our titles. I was the funny one. Looking back I now, see that I was in a way the court jester...just there to make them laugh. Everyone wanted to hang with us...or so we thought and the cute boys liked the cutest girls in the group. It was an elementary clique. (So lame). I particularly remember one day we played truth or dare during recess (like all 4th graders did) and they dared me to kiss a tree...and I thought well, that is kind of gross I’m not doing that. And because of my personal feelings on how sanitary kissing a tree was...I was kicked out of the group. One little miniscule thing and I was gone. I remember how awful that felt.
Lewis says, "One of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left out side." It’s a bad enough feeling to want to be in a ring but when you are in it and you get kicked out its possibly even worse.
And I've been on both sides of the fence. I have had the desire to be in the group and I’ve been in the group and have been found guilty of excluding others from the group. Lewis makes a point to say something so utterly true about these inner rings, "Exclusion is no accident; it is the essence." It’s hard to realize that you've been a part of something like that. To purposely brush people away who aren’t deemed "worthy" of your group. It’s kind of embarrassing actually.
Lewis points out that all of these inner rings don’t benefit you in any way he says, “As long as you are governed by that desire you will never get what you want. You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed there will be nothing left. Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain."
It is just amazing that even though this was written in the 40s in London, it applies to right now. It fits in with current times and will be appropriate in another 20 or 40 years. The phenominon on the Inner Rings will not die, but as individuals there can be the prevention of another one rising up among us in this world.

thend.