The Inner Circle

I had the opportunity to be at the U2 360 Tour at the Rose Bowl on October 25^th. Julie and I went with our friends Ron and Dawn Stueckle. Now I had never seen U2 in concert and was looking forward to it. I got GA tickets for the floor because I figured that at the Rose Bowl, any regular seats would be pretty far away. We arrived at the Rose Bowl at 10am after a friend called and said she got there at 4am, only to be told she was number 632 for admission. We got in line and eventually someone came around and marked us 1607-1610. The deal was that we wanted to be in the inner circle. U2 sets their stage up, then surrounds it with a circular catwalk that they can run around. A select few get to be inside that circle. It was first come, first serve. So we sat in line for 7 hours for the opportunity to be a part of the inner circle. When it was a little before 3pm, security came by and gave us

wrist bands. They told us we would be let into the stadium at 5pm and that we would enter in line in groups of 250. I went to the car to drop off some stuff, when Julie paged me and said that the line was moving. It was not only moving it was running, running to the gate, no longer an orderly line but a frantic mob. I found my group and we were squished with the masses.

We waited and security came by to tell us to go back in line, but no one moved. Finally they let us into the stadium. It was a mad dash to the stage. We hurried down to the front and were admitted into the inner circle. We had made it. It was five o'clock, two more hours for the Black Eyed Peas to come on and three more for U2. We stood, holding our space, claiming our right to be in the inner circle. The problem was that no one was satisfied simply being in the inner circle, they kept inching forward or pushing sideways to get dead center, or get close to the stage. All throughout the show, it was pushing and shoving for a better position or a better view. The inner circle was not good enough, inside the circle there was still something better to go after. And it never stopped, a constant pushing and shoving and arguing.

About halfway through the U2 concert, I had had enough of the shoving and fights that were occurring throughout. We got out of the inner circle to the General Admission area and it was as if someone opened the windows. It was refreshing. There was room to breathe, room to dance, to move around and do whatever we wanted in response to the music. Out there, away from the inner circle, there was freedom and it was perfect. There was one guy who was dancing with his cane, another doing the footloose dance and couples dancing together, it was relaxed and free.

The whole thing got me thinking about social structures in general. So many times we look to the "in" group at work or socially and think that if we could only get there, then life would be great. But what ends up happening, without fail, is that when we get into the inner circle, there is still a jockeying for position, there is pushing and shoving going on, fighting going on, no one is ever satisfied. When we stop striving to be part of the inner circle, but live freely where we are, then we can have fun and do whatever we want to do without fear of condemnation, or worry about what others are thinking. When we stop striving to be popular or cool then we can find freedom to live how we were meant to live.

Truthfully being in the inner circle was fun, but being part of the regular crowd was way more freeing. I guess I now know where I belong. I want to invite you to join me, you can come just as you are and there is a ton of room. Bring your dancing shoes.

Peace

Edwin